Run
by PercyFosterMellark
Summary: Callie makes a decision with Brandon. She's surprised that he even followed her, even though she left him, after she kissed him, even more surprised that he found her. Or still wants her. Set after 1x10
1. Preview

_Hey guys. I had this idea in the back of my mind for a few months, and decided to make it a story about Brandon and Callie. Set after 1x10. None of the characters are mine, all rights to ABC Family and The Fosters. Only the change of what happens is my idea. Here's a preview. Enjoy. - PercyFosterMellark._

* * *

I look at the boy in front of me, his brown hair sexily messed up, T-shirt hugging the easily defined muscles on his torso, jeans low on his hips, his green eyes staring at me in such a way that makes me want kiss him. But that wouldn't be the best idea right now. I need to know why he came after me. Why he's trying to stop me. I made a mistake, and he still decides to come after me.

"Why'd you come, Brandon? I told you it's not going to work out. We can't be together."

One side of his mouth lifts into a small smirk before he answers me in his deep, raspy voice, "I only came here to take you home if that's what you want."

I sigh, before answering him,"I want to go home, Brandon. I want to be with Jude and the twins. I want to be part of your family," I tell him, my fingers finding his shirt, pulling him closer to me, close enough to smell his cologne and feel his body heat, his forehead resting on mine and I close my eyes, "But I want you, too." I whisper.

"Well," Brandon tells me, pulling me towards him, he wraps his arms around me, pressing our bodies together as he presses his lips to my ear, his voice making me shiver as he whispers. "I have another idea, only if you want to do it. I didn't come all the way over here for no reason."

"W-W-What is it?" I ask, losing my train of focus, especially with his fingers tracing the waistband of my jeans.

"We run," He answers, pressing his lips to my neck, and I close my eyes. "Just the two of us. Nobody else. We run."

I feel his hot breath on my neck, and he kisses it again, waiting for my answer.


	2. Wyatt helps

I sit in Wyatt's car, looking out the window, watching as the road zips by, two things on my mind.

Mine and Brandon's kiss, and Jude.

What are they going to think when they find out I'm gone? What will they say? What will Stef and Lena think? What about Mariana? Who's going to comfort Jude?

I sigh, tired from keeping Wyatt company all night by staying up with him, tired of my thoughts. It was only going to make my choice harder.

I didn't want to leave the fosters. I want to be at their house right now, walking down the stairs tiredly with Mariana and Jude. I want to feel safe. It wasn't that I didn't feel safe with Wyatt, because I did. Just not like I do at The Fosters with Stef and Lena, The Twins, and Brandon, besides Jude is safe with them too, especially with Brandon being there.

_Brandon_.

My fingers trace over my mouth, remembering the feeling of his lips pressed to mine, my fingers in his hair, arms around my waist. The look in his green eyes before I kissed him, the words that came out of his mouth that motivated me to do it. Telling me that I was talented and smart and beautiful. He'd always do something that made me feel that way, like when I had to say his name multiple times before he actually heard me when he saw me before Mariana's Quince. I'd never expected him to flat out say it to me.

Then Jude saw us. The hurt in his eyes clearly visible, then it was quickly covered by disappointment as he yelled at me, telling me that I never really cared about him. Everything I did was just for me. I ruined his adoption.

I could have never agreed with him more. I wasn't thinking of him at all when I kissed Brandon. I was thinking about how I wanted it to happen, and I made it happen.

Jude never crossed my mind at all when Brandon kissed me back. The adoption disappeared completely from my mind, basically ruining Jude's happiness, and ruining my chance at having a family again.

So I left. If I stay away long enough, my feelings for Brandon will go away and then I can come back and get adopted with Jude. Because that's what we both want.

"Callie?" Wyatt calling my name pulls me out of my thinking.

"Yeah?" I ask, knowing where this was going to lead to. I still haven't told him why I left.

"It was because of Brandon, right?" Wyatt asks me quietly, and I don't answer right away. Hearing his name makes me realize how much I actually do miss him right now, longing for another kiss, a hug.

"Jude saw us," Is all I manage to choke out at first, before I take a deep breath and continue, "He saw me kissing Brandon at the wedding after we told Lena and Stef that we wanted to be adopted by them. He yelled at me and told me I was selfish, and that I never really cared for him."

I can feel Wyatt's gaze as I still look out my window, close to tears. I didn't want to leave Jude. I didn't want to leave Brandon. I didn't want to leave and hurt any of them.

"Callie, I don't think Jude meant any of those things. Really, I think that he'd come around and apologize for it."

I shake my head. "No. You should've seen the look on his face. I tried telling him that I was sorry, but he didn't care. He just looked right at me and yelled at me. He told me the truth, Wyatt. He's not going to come around and say sorry. What he said was true. I wasn't thinking of him or the adoption when I kissed Brandon. I was thinking about me being happy."

"So what if you did one little thing for yourself?" Wyatt demands. "He doesn't have the right to be mad at you after everything you've done for him! I mean, you ended up in juvy for defending him! So why should he be mad at y-"

"I ruined his chance at having a family again! Jude wants to be adopted by the fosters! To be honest, so do I! I just can't help my feelings for Brandon, and I ruined everything for Jude the moment I kissed Brandon!"

Wyatt doesn't answer, and I know he's giving up on trying talk to me, at least for now, knowing there was no way he could change my thoughts.

"Sometimes you're impossible," I hear him mutter to himself, but I don't say anything. I am impossible. "I don't understand why you'd run away if you're happy there."

"I ruined it for Jude." I remind him.

Wyatt sighs and doesn't say anything at all, and I turn on the radio, hating the silence. I rest my head against the window, and fall asleep.

When I wake up, I'm surprised to be in front of a motel.

Wyatt gives me a smile as look over at him. "I decided to stop and get rest before I kill both of us," He tells me as he gets out of the car, and so do I. "We'll get to my grandparents house by tomorrow," he informs me as he unlocks a room, and immediately lays on the couch and turns on the TV.

I sigh. "I'm gonna take a shower." I tell him.

After my shower, Wyatt is still on the couch, watching a football game, half asleep.

"Hey," I say, snapping my fingers in front of his face. "Time for bed."

Wyatt lazily gets up, and grabs a pillow off of the bed, and starts to make his way back to the couch.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna sleep on the couch, why?"

"You can sleep with me," I tell him. "Or I'll sleep on the couch. You've been driving for hours."

Wyatt climbs into bed, and I do the same, space between us. I'm thankful that he doesn't do or say anything.

Brandon and Jude creep into my mind after a few minutes of silence, and I roll over and rest my head on his muscular chest, and it fills the hole in my chest a little bit, but they're both in my mind, and I know they won't leave for awhile. I'm surprised when Wyatt arm slides around my waist, in a comforting manner.

When I fall asleep, Brandon and Jude are still in my mind.

* * *

So this is the first real chapter, and I know it's kinda boring, but still. Brandon is gonna be coming in soon. I wrote this chapter just as a little filler thingy. Reviews of your thoughts?


	3. Brandon comes back

Wyatt is quick to leave in the morning, not even bothering to get himself breakfast before getting in the car, with me following him, not questioning his actions.

"We'll be there in like three hours," He informs me as he starts the car. "You can sleep if you want."

I don't answer. I wanted to sleep, but I couldn't fall asleep. So for three hours, I was listening to his horrible taste in music, humming to the beat while I stared out of the window blankly until he parks in front of a house, and a woman runs out before either of us are even fully out of the car.

"Wyatt!" The woman says, and I'm guessing it's his mother. "You're here early!" She hugs him quickly before turning to me. "You must be Callie! Wyatt told me a lot about you."

I give her a smile. "Yeah, that's me. The one and only Callie Jacob."

Wyatt butts in before his mother says anything else. "Where's Grandpa and Grams?"

His mother shrugs. "They're inside, arguing like always." Without thinking, I take Wyatt's hand, lacing our fingers together, and he doesn't question it, just leads me into the house, kicking off his shoes at the front door. He looks at me. "They'll like you." Is all he says before leading me into what appears to be the living room, where the TV is on, football playing.

"You're watching this game?" Wyatt questions, surprising his grandparents that are sitting on the couch, complaining about something.

"Wyatt!" His grandmother says, standing up faster than thought possible for an old person. "You didn't tell me you were bringing a beautiful girl!"

Wyatt looks down at me, and mouths 'told you' before looking at his grandmother again. "Um, well it was kinda last minute. This is Callie. Grams, Callie. Callie, Grams."

I manage to smile again, before she takes my face in hands, still looking at me. "I like her," She says, letting go. "She's a keeper. Josh, get off your lazy butt and come meet your grandson girlfriend. She's beautiful."

I'm too startled and confused to say anything when Wyatt's grandfather does the same thing as his grandmother, and saying the same thing, smiling proudly.

Wyatt quickly pulls me away from them, saying something about not getting in my face and how he was already well aware of my qualities.

"Sorry about that. Come on," He mutters, leading me up the stairs. "I'll show you your room."

"I'm not taking your room," I tell him, and he sighs. "Wyatt, it's not even my grandparents house."

"Fine. I'll sleep on the floor."

I shake my head. "No, you're sleeping in your bed." I tell him as he opens the first door when we get to the top of the stairs.

Wyatt shrugs, picking up one drawing of the dresser. "What ever you say, Callie Jacob. The one and the only."

I smile at his words, and look at the drawings all over the room, notepads in piles, a trash can full of crumpled pieces of paper "Yeah," I say, imagining Wyatt coming here in the summer and staying up all night to draw, and spend hours during the day. "This is definitely your room."

"What is that supposed to mean?" He questions, letting go of my hand.

"Nothing," I answer, sitting on the edge of his bed, noticing a baseball bat in the corner. "Do you even play baseball?"

Wyatt looks over at corner. "Kinda. I'm only good at hitting the ball."

Theres a knock on his closed door, and he opens it. "Yes?"

"Do you want us to order pizza?" I hear his mother ask, and he looks back at me, eyebrow raised in question.

"That's fine." I tell him.

"Pizza is fine," He tells his mother. "Get two." I hear his door close again, but I'm just staring into space. By now, everybody would notice I'm gone for sure. Stef and Lena would have probably told them to go to school, and Jude, he's probably pissed off at Brandon, thinking it's his fault.

I want to call Brandon, and ask him for Jude. He needs to know why I left wasn't Brandon's fault, or his. It was my choice. But if I put my phone on, Stef can track me down and easily write my location.

I feel Wyatt sit down next to me, and I don't acknowledge him.

My mom. What would she think if I just left her and Jude like that? Probably the same thing everybody thinking now.

I barely hear Wyatt when he speaks. "I don't think they'd be mad at you," He tells me, as if reading my thoughts. "They'd be worried and scared for you. They probably think you're on the streets all alone."

"I didn't want to leave," I tell him, looking at him. "I just wish that they know that. If anything else happened, I would've stayed."

"I know you did it for Jude, but Stef and Lena wouldn't just go 'oh, she kissed her so to be brother. Let's not adopt her and Jude.' They'd want to talk it through with you."

"You'd be surprised what people do when something forbidden in the system happens."

"But it's _Stef_ and _Lena_." Wyatt says, trying to reason with me.

"It's the _system_," I tell him, and lay down on the bed. "It always gets it's way. Makes kids lives living hell."

Wyatt groans as he lays down next to me, staring at the ceiling. "They'll miss you. You should too."

I roll over on to my side, looking at him. "Do you really think that this is easy for me?" I demand, angered at the fact that he thinks this won't affect me. "I'll miss them as much as they'll miss me. Their my family. They choose me and I chose them."

Wyatt faces me. "I understand that you feel like you ruined it for Jude," He says softly. "But if you guys choose each other, why'd you even think about kissing Brandon?"

"Because you were right. Putting my heart out there scares me a lot more than breaking the rules. But then Brandon said all of those things to me, and it just made me feel like it wouldn't make a difference if I put my heart out. The same things happen every time I do. I get caught breaking the rules. I kissed Brandon because ever since Liam, and I felt like I was actually wanted. I felt like he actually loves me."

I can tell my words hurt Wyatt, but he quickly hides it. "I actually care about you, Callie."

I sigh, and take his hand again. "I know you do. I really do. And I'm sorry that I used you as an distraction from Brandon. It didn't work that well. I do care about, Wyatt. You're very important to me. I just d-"

"I'm just friend," Wyatt says, and I hear the pain in his voice this time. "I understand, Callie Jacob." He gives me a small smile, and the door bell rings.

"That's dinner." He says, and lets go of my hand, me following him to the kitchen, where everybody is already at the table and eating.

* * *

Three weeks. That's how long I've been away from the fosters. That's how many nights I've been sleeping with Wyatt. It's one in the morning and I can't fall asleep.

Wyatt arm is wrapped around my waist lightly, his breathing slow and even. I jump a little when there's a small crash. I brush it off though, it's probably just something falling.

The second crash comes a few minutes later, and louder. I'm surprised it hasn't woken up Wyatt. I faintly hear talking.

"Wyatt," I mutter, shaking his shoulder. "Wake up."

"Hmm?"

"There's someone in the house."

"It's just something falling," He tells me sleepily. "We'll check it out in the morning."

I shake my head. "Someone's in here," I tell him, 100% sure. "I feel it."

"Fine, I'll check it out." Wyatt says, climbing out of bed. I get out too, and open the door as he gets the baseball bat.

"You can go first." I say.

Wyatt smiles. "Ever heard of the term ladies first?"

"Yeah, but you have the weapon," I point out. "And I'm not gonna lie, this house is kinda creepy."

Wyatt walks out of his room quickly, but quietly, and I follow him. "It came from downstairs." I whisper as Wyatt prepares the bat, holding it over his shoulder. There's a few well thought through cuss words as me and Wyatt looks to our right. Wyatt swing the bat, and hits his target.

There's a groan of pain as I turn on the light, revealing Brandon on the tile floor, holding his side.

"Woah! Woah! It's just me!" He tells Wyatt, his voice strained, who was ready to hit him again. "Holy shit! Do you even play baseball? It's good to know that I didn't have to worry about Callie getting hurt here."

I don't even say anything at all, but Wyatt answers. "No, not really. Why the hell are you in my house at one in the morning?"

"You said that the back door was unlocked?" Brandon says, but it's more like a question. I still stare at him in shock as he stands up. After three weeks of not seeing Brandon Foster, it felt like three years. "God. You really need to sign up, dude."

"Just because I texted you that, doesn't mean you can just come in. Why didn't you call or text me?"

"You didn't answer." Brandon says simply, running his fingers through his hair.

Wyatt let's out an annoyed sigh, and I still stand there frozen at the fact that he's less than ten feet away from me. Brandon seems to notice that I'm awake too. "Callie?"

I don't answer. I just throw my arms around his neck. I feel his strong arms wrap around my waist, pulling me closer. I close my eyes, and wrap my arms around he neck tighter. I needed to make sure that this was real.

"I missed you." I whisper, taking in his scent.

"Gods, Callie. You have no idea. Everybody went crazy. Until Wyatt called."

I don't look back at Wyatt. I'm grateful that he called them, because if Brandon wasn't here right now, who knows what I would've done in the next few days.

I look at him, his green eyes staring at me, and even though Wyatt's standing right there, I kiss him, my fingers finding his hair.

Wyatt clears his throat, and I pull away from Brandon, looking at him.

"Sorry." is all I manage to say, stepping away from Brandon, leaning against the counter.

"I'll leave you guys alone to talk." Wyatt says stiffly, and goes back up stairs.

I'm suddenly worried about the fact that Brandon is all the way over here.

"Do Stef and Lena know that you left? Do they know what happened? How's Jude? He hates me, doesn't he?" I ask, one question making a new one.

"I was kinda forced to tell them why you ran away, they know that we kissed," Brandon tells me, looking down at his feet. "Everybody was pissed off at me, even Jesus. And Jude doesn't hate you, he just blames himself. Moms told me that we can't be together."

They're right, we can't be together. Brandon must know that.

I look at the boy in front of me, his brown hair sexily messed up, T-shirt hugging the easily defined muscles on his torso, jeans low on his hips, his green eyes staring at me in such a way that makes me want kiss him. But that wouldn't be the best idea right now. I need to know why he came after me. Why he's trying to stop me. I made a mistake, and he still decides to come after me.

"Why'd you come, Brandon? I told you it's not going to work out. We can't be together. Even your moms said that. I can't come home."

One side of his mouth lifts into a small smirk before he answers me in his deep, raspy voice, "I only came here to take you home if that's what you want."

I sigh, before answering him,"I want to go home, Brandon. I want to be with Jude and the twins. I want to be part of your family," I tell him, my fingers finding his shirt, pulling him closer to me, close enough to smell his cologne and feel his body heat, his forehead resting on mine and I close my eyes, "But I want you, too." I whisper.

"Well," Brandon tells me, pulling me towards him, he wraps his arms around me, pressing our bodies together as he presses his lips to my ear, his voice making me shiver as he whispers. "I have another idea, only if you want to do it. I didn't come all the way over here for no reason."

"W-W-What is it?" I ask, losing my train of focus, especially with his fingers tracing the waistband of my jeans.

"We run," He answers, pressing his lips to my neck, and I close my eyes. "Just the two of us. Nobody else. We run."

I feel his hot breath on my neck, and he kisses it again, waiting for my answer.

If I ran away with Brandon, that be eve worse. Stef and Lena would be stressed out. Jude and the twins would blame themselves. But I can't just go back and act like nothing happened.

"How?" I ask him, thinking of the downsides. "We don't have any money. We don't have jobs. We still have to finish school. What about college?"

"I have money," Brandon mutters, his hot breath still on my neck. "And an apartment that one of my friends dad is selling here."

"You have money for an apartment?" I ask, stunned.

"Yeah, I started saving it up for college, but I have enough to get it. We'll have some extra money too. And I have moms car, not to mention some of my clothes."

"I'm not gonna make you pay for all of it."

Brandon looks at me, his green eyes meeting mine, and kisses me gently, catching me off guard, pressing me against the counter.

I quickly get over my surprise, and kiss him back, my hands grabbing the fabric of his shirt.

Brandon pulls away. "I want too."

"What about getting jobs?" I ask, the only question on my mind right now. If we do get an apartment or something, how are we going to pay the bills?

"We'll look for them as soon as we get the apartment before somebody else buys it."

"You're sure?"

Brandon green eyes show a flicker of happiness. "So that's a yes?"

I smile, and kiss him before answering him. "Of course."


	4. Please don't leave me ever again

Telling Wyatt what we planned to do was a lot harder than I thought possible. I held Brandon's hand the entire time, and just sat quietly as Brando talked to him.

After twenty minutes of Brandon and Wyatt talking, Brandon leads me to his car, rubbing motions with his thumb on my hand.

"Hey," Brandon whispers as he drives down the street, probably to check into a hotel for the night. "It's okay, It's Wyatt. He understands."

I sigh, and hold his hand tighter. "I know. I still feel bad, though."

"You shouldn't," Brandon tells me. "It's not like you broke up with him."

"Yeah, but he still helped with stuff. He's still a friend."

I can tell that I'm starting to make him feel bad, so I stop talking.

"I'm sorry," Brandon says, parking the car. "I really am. It's my fault."

I look over at him, and I notice circles under his eyes. He hasn't gotten any sleep, like me. It just didn't feel the same when I wasn't with him or at the Fosters. It was hard to fall asleep without knowing I was in a safe place.

"I'm not blaming you. I just feel bad. And then your parents are probably going to file in a report that they have two missing teenagers. What is Jude going to think? What everybody we just decided to leave behind?"

"We didn't leave them behind," Brandon whispers, running his fingers through his already messed up hair. "They're still our family, Callie. We don't just see each other as family."

"I know, but we've literally just decided to live on our own," I say, thinking about my choices. "We don't know anything about taking care of ourselves."

"I think we know enough. Especially with what you've done for Jude."

"That's different. I was just protecting him, not making money and paying for a house. Or the bills."

Brandon doesn't answer at first, and I just sit there looking at him, after an few minutes of silence, he answers. "We could go home," He says, sighing. "That's all I got."

I thought about facing Stef and Lena, Mariana, and Jude. They would be disappointed in us. They be mad at the fact that we have feelings for each other, but yet all of it would go to Brandon. They'd be mad at Brandon, not me. Because he'd be the one that is safe. They wouldn't have to send him away.

I shake my head. "No. I can't go back. We can't go back."

The look in Brandon's eyes are something I've never seen before. "But you just said th-"

"I know what I said, but we can't go back, not just you leaving in the middle of the night and me being gone for three weeks and act like nothing happened."

"We don't have to stay here," Brandon tells me. "We can still live near them."

"What would we do?" I ask him, suddenly tired, but wanting to know his answer.

"We'll move in with my dad," Brandon tells me simply. "He's gonna move out soon anyways. We still go to school and get part time jobs before he moves out. Then we don't have to worry about buying a house completely on our own."

"What's your dad going to think? He won't even let us stay with him."

"You'd be surprised by the stuff he allows. But for now I'm tired, and I know you are too."

I don't complain as Brandon gets out if the car, I just follow him, and grab his hand, which is warm compared to mine. Without looking at him, I can tell he smiles, and a small on slips onto my lips.

A few minutes later, I'm laying in a bed, about to fall asleep before I feel Brandon strong arm wrap around my waist, his breath on my neck, making me shiver. "I missed you," He whispers softly, his fingers finding my hand again. "More than you think."

I roll over to face him, his green eyes staring at me intensely, just like I've seen him in school in the halls, or across the kitchen when Wyatt was over. I was used to it, after all, I was caught doing the same thing.

His hair is still sexily messed up, and he runs his fingers through it again, almost in a teasing manner, before giving me a small cheeky smile, acting innocent.

I bite my bottom lip to stop myself from making a comment on it, or on his bare torso that was easily defined with a six pack.

Without thinking, my fingers trace over the muscles on his stomach, the muscles shivering at my touch. "Sorry." I mutter, looking away from him, embarrassed, moving my hands.

"No," He whispers huskily, taking my hands, and press them to his muscular chest. "It's okay."

I can feel his heart beating underneath my fingers, a strong and steady beat, his skin hotter than I thought.

We don't say anything for a few minutes, but I surprised myself when I continue to touch his chest, hard underneath my soft fingertips. I feel his heart racing, just like mine. Brandon's strong hands pull me closer to him, his touch making me shiver as his fingers run up my back, I feel warmth at his touch, his skin was much warmer than mine.

My hands leave his chest, traveling down to the muscles on his stomach, tracing them slowly, my touch ceasing when I reach the black band of his boxers which is visible over the top of his jeans.

His lips graze my jaw as his hand slightly pulls down his t-shirt that I changed into from my shoulder, brushing his lips against the newly exposed skin. The action sends chills through my body, sending signals everywhere — my toes, my fingertips, my mouth, every inch of my skin, and body. Brandon seems to notice that it as an affect on me, and suddenly flips us over, pressing my back to the mattress.

My hands move to his muscular back, moving up and down, his muscles relaxing at my touch, and push him towards me, pressing our bodies together.

Brandon brushes his mouth against my bare neck, and sucking lightly, causing me to moan. I feel him smile against my neck as my fingers travel up his muscular back, and find his somewhat long dark brown hair, and tug at it gently, wanting the feeling of his lips on mine.

Brandon continues to kiss my neck, one of his strong hands going underneath my shirt, his warm skin against my cold skin. He sucks at my neck again, in a teasing manner.

"I hate you sometimes." I whisper, stopping myself from moaning. I wasn't going let him think he was winning. My fingers are still in his hair, and I still want his lips on mine.

"You know you like it." He murmurs, kissing my neck again. He was right, after all.

"Shut up," I tell him, letting him know he was right, and tug at his dark brown hair again, bringing his head away from my neck, and look into his green eyes, which still have me forget what's happening around me. "Just kiss me already." I whisper before crashing my lips to his already parted ones.

It wasn't like the one in Wyatt's kitchen, where I did it out of happiness to see him, this time it was full of three weeks of longing for his lips, and him. He tastes like mints. He playfully bites my bottom lip, and pulls away, his lips barely brushing against mine, which only causes me to want him even more.

He stares at me for a few minutes before doing anything again, brushing his lips against mine softly before whispering something in my ear,"Please don't leave me ever again."

"I won't," I whisper back as he wraps his arms around my waist, and I rest my head on his bare chest, his breathing becoming slow and even like mine, "I promise."


	5. Chapter 4

When I wake up, I'm surprised to not feel Wyatt's body heat radiating off of him, like I have gotten used to in the past three weeks.

"Morning, sweetheart," I hear Brandon say, causing me to smile. "Have a good night sleep?"

Brandon?

What happened last night slowly creeps into my mind and I sit up, my head leaving his muscular chest. "Yeah," I tell him, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "How'd you sleep?"

"Better than I thought possible," Brandon tells me, wrapping his strong arms around my waist again, sitting up next to me. "Since I knew you were safe."

I smile again, looking at him, and push his hair out of his eyes. "That's good to know."

His lips curve into a smile, before kissing my temple and gets out of bed, putting his worn out sneakers on. When he bends over, the muscles in his back tensing, I notice a few bruises that were impossible to notice last night. They weren't from Wyatt's bat last night, he was hit on the ribs, but I can see that one too, it formed while we were asleep, but the other ones where almost as bad as the one on his side.

"Where'd you get those?" I ask, more like blurted it, but I could've notice them earlier, but I was too wrapped up with being able to go home to think about him getting hurt while I was gone.

Brandon straightens, and pulls a dark blue t-shirt over his head, that is tight, hugging his torso. "It's nothing. Just a small fight after you left."

I'm suddenly on both feet, "What? You got into a fight?"

Brandon shrugs, "Yeah, I went to check in on Jude one day at school, and I saw some kids making fun of him, so I stopped them. Some of them have older brothers too," Brandon shrugs again. "They told their brothers, and the next day, I got in a fight with them."

My hand goes under the shirt that he just put on, and wonder why he even bothered with putting it on in the first place. My fingers go to his back, tracing over one of the places I remembered seeing the bruises, and let my hand rest there.

"It doesn't hurt?" I ask, looking up at him.

"No," Brandon answers, his voice raspy, his strong hands on my waist, pulling me closer to him. "Not really."

I nod, and kiss him, my other hand playing with the hem of his shirt. Brandon kisses me back, smiling against my lips.

The good moment is ruined with the ringing of Brandon's phone, and he picks up from the dresser next to us, and looks at the screen. "It's my dad," Brandon tells me, and I nod. "Hello?" He asks, pressing the phone to his ear.

I can't make out what his dad said, but Brandon nods. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm sorry for leaving in the middle of the night," He runs his fingers through his hair, pulling at it. "I really am. I was actually about to leave the hotel I'm staying at when you called. I'll be back by tomorrow around 6 pm."

Mike starts talking again.

"Sure. Dad, whatever. I'll call you when I get into the state, alright? Bye."

Brandon turns off his phone as sighs, looking at me. "Up for another road trip?"

* * *

How Brandon is able to stay up this long, I don't know. He's been driving almost non-stop since 10 in the morning, and it's almost midnight. I've been telling him that he needs to stop and get some rest, but he brushes me off. "Cals, when I say I'll be there by tomorrow, I tend to make it there earlier than I said."

"Fine," I answer, shrugging. "I'll just stay up with you until you stop."

"But you're tired." He points out.

"So are you, and you're the one driving. I'm blaming you when I die."

"Just let me drive for another 2 hours, please?"

"No, because if I let you do that, you aren't going to stop for rest at all. Just let me drive for a few hours while you sleep."

Brandon sighs, and suddenly pulls into an gas station, and stops the car, and climbs out. "I'm getting a snack. Want anything?"

"No, it's okay. Thank you, though."

Brandon walks into the small store, and I climb into the drivers seat, before getting out and fill up the tank.

I'm leaning against the car when Brandon comes back out, his arms full with snacks. My eyebrow is raised, and he puts them in the back seats. "I'm hungry, and I got some for later, if you get hungry." He explains, his hands resting on the car, his arms at my sides.

His eyes green eyes seem to be brighter than usual, before he kisses me, pressing my back against the door, on of his arms around my waist.

I respond by kissing him back, my fingers finding his soft hair, running them through it. He runs his tongue against my lower lip, wanting the same thing as me.

Brandon pulls away and smirks at me before he gets into the passenger seat. I sit in the drivers seat next to him, and look over at him. "Tease." I mumble to myself as I start the car. Brandon chuckles at my response to his actions, but doesn't say anything as I drive down the road, completely bored already. After a few more minutes of silence, and I know he fell asleep, judging by his position and breathing. I turn on the radio, in hopes there'd be good music playing.

* * *

Exactly five hours later, Brandon holds my hand tightly, his other hand knocking on his fathers apartment door, bags of both of our stuff laying on the floor.

After a few moments, Mike opens the door partly, still half asleep.

"B," Mike says, rubbing his eyes. "What happened to you calling me?"

Brandon shrugs. "Can we come in?"

Mike looks confused. "We?" He questions, and Brandon nods as Mike opens the door all the way, and his face lights up when he sees me. I'm suddenly in his arms, "God, Callie you have no idea what you've put me and your mothers through. Don't do that ever again, got me?"

I'm stunned, so I just nod, unable to answer him. Mike gives me a tired smile before closing the door behind Brandon, ignoring our bags on the floor. "I bet you guys are exhausted."


	6. Chapter 5

Mike didn't even question why I was at his apartment with Brandon, or the fact that Brandon and I immediately fell asleep next together on his couch. We survived about two minutes on the couch before both of us fell asleep, Mike walking around the kitchen.

Right now, Mike is standing above both of us, a look on his face that gives it all away. "You two better start talking before I go all cop on you." To be honest, I didn't want to see Mike all Copy. Stef was already bad enough when she was in cop mode. I only imagined Mike being ten times worse than Stef when it came to stuff like this.

Two foster siblings asking him if they can live in his apartment after running away to Indiana, and showing up at his apartment like nothing happened.

I suddenly sit up, and let go of Brandon's hand. It didn't feel right to just tell Mike that we needed his apartment, so I look over at Brandon, who's rubbing his eyes. I feel like of Brandon explained, Mike would understand. He has a way with words, can make anybody listen or believe him.

Brandon looks back at me, groggily, then up at Mike. "We sorta need your help," Brandon tells him, his voice raspy from lack of sleep. "We need to stay here for a while with you."

Mike raises an eyebrow. "We? As in you and Callie?"

Brandon laces his fingers through mine, still confident in whatever he was going to say, not caring what his father would think. He always seemed to stand what he believed in. "Yes, as in Callie and I."

Mike sits on the coffee table in front of us, and looks at me, like it's my choice. "You're going along with it? Do you want this?"

I sit quietly for a few minutes before answering him. "Yeah. It was Brandon's idea, but I agreed with it."

"So you're saying that you want to live here alone, just the two of you instead of me selling the apartment?"

Brandon nods. "Yeah. We'll finish school, get part time jobs, and live here."

Mike sighs, and stares at both of us, as if he wishes that he read our minds. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll allow it. I am going to start packing up my things today, and I'll leave some stuff here for you guys, deal?"

Brandon and I nod at the same time.

"I don't want any... funny business, though. Don't come to me when it happens."

My face burns red, I nod, and look away from him, not able to meet his eyes. I can't tell if he's joking around or not. The look on Mikes face told me he wasn't.

Mike suddenly stands up, probably wanting a reason to leave. "I hope you're up for French Toast."

* * *

We been helping Mike pack for three hours, and his apartment seemed almost empty expect for the TV, bed and furniture that he decided to give to us. The walls were bare, not a single picture left on them, and it seemed somewhat cleaner than it was before. Brandon was in the bedroom with Mike helping pack the last few stuff. Mike called his girlfriend saying that he would be able to move in with her by tonight, which in my opinion was startling. I wouldn't want to move in so suddenly like that. I've literally been living with Brandon for two months. It didn't seem the same as Mike just moving in like that.

I lay down on the couch, tired for some reason, and look at the time. 4:45 pm. Figures.

Brandon walks out of the room, his hands full with boxes. "He's leaving sooner than we thought," He informs me, peeking over the tower of boxes. "In a few minutes actually."

"Need any help?" I ask.

"No, it's okay. There's like three other boxes that he's bringing to the car. I'll be back soon." Brandon tells me as Mike comes out of the room behind him, a tower of boxes in front of him too.

"Be good, Callie," I hear Mike call as he opens the door. "I'll check on you guys in a few days!"

"Okay!" I call back, closing my eyes the second the door closes behind them, ready to fall asleep, but I can't. I just lay there, wishing I could fall asleep, one of my arms blocking my face. it seemed to help a little bit. After about ten minutes, I can hear the front door open and close quietly, and know it's Brandon.

His footsteps come closer. "Tired?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Kinda," Brandon answers, and I can feel his stare on me, "I'm not that tired anymore." I move my arm and open my eyes, only for his green eyes to meet mine, some of his dark brown hair in them, his body tense. He gives me a small smile, then starts to leave the room, but I don't want him too. I grab his arm, my fingers wrapping around his bicep. Brandon's entire body seems to relax at my touch, his shoulders seem to slump slightly.

Brandon looks down at me, and I pull him closer to me, almost pulling him on top of me if weren't for Brandon stopping himself, his hands on the edge of the couch, his face inches from mine. I stay quite for a few moments before I kiss him, grabbing the front of his t-shirt, pulling him completely on top of me.

My hands go to the back of his neck, my fingers running through his hair. Our legs tangle together, as Brandon's hands pulls me closer to him, if possible. My hands move down to his shirt, tugging at it.

Brandon pulls away momentarily, and pulls his shirt over his head, dropping it on the floor, giving me a small smile before kissing me again, his lips traveling to my neck.

Suddenly, there's a loud knock at the door, surprising both of us, Brandon moving suddenly, rolling over onto the floor, me on top of him. Both of laugh as there's another knock. "Just ignore it." Brandon mumbles, kissing me again.

"Mike! I'm not here because I want to be! Answer your dumb door so I can tell moms that I actually checked on you!"

I look at Brandon, who has a look of confusion on his face. "That sounded like Mariana." I say, and Brandon shrugs.

"She'll go away eventually."

"Mike!"

Definitely Mariana.

"It doesn't sound like that. Can't you just answer the door?"

I get off of him, and stand up. Brandon stands up next to me, and grabs his shirt and puts it on while walking down the hall, towards the door. I follow him, and grab his hand.

Brandon opens the door, and Mariana stands there, her hand in the air. "Took you long enough."

Brandon smiles. "Yeah, sorry."

Mariana seems to notice me standing next to him. "Callie!" The next thing I know is that she's hugging me, and I hug her back. "Everybody is gonna be so happy that you're home!"

I don't answer.

Mariana pulls away, and looks at me, her smile gone. "You are coming home, right?"

At first, I don't know what to tell her. I was scared for her response. I wouldn't know if she'd be angry or understand. I look down at my shoes, thinking through what I would say. "No," I mumble, carefully, the look on her face telling me she heard. "I wouldn't be able to bare it."

"Wouldn't be able to bare what?" Mariana demands, her usually happy and preppy mood gone. "Having a family of people who love you? People who _want_ you? We wanted to adopt you for fucks sake, and you wouldn't be able to bare the fact that we want you part of our family? Isn't having a family more important than having a boyfriend?"

I bite my bottom lip, and look back up at her. "Just because I get don't adopted, it doesn't mean I'm not a part of your family!"

Brandon wraps his arm around my waist, probably trying to calm me down. "Cals," He whispers into my ear. "She's just upset. She's gonna get over it."

I ignore him, still looking at Mariana, who doesn't have anything else to say. It's quite for a few minutes until she talks again, anger still in her voice. "I'll see you later." She wasn't happy with the fact that she was.

Brandon closes the door as Mariana walks away, and faces me, his green eyes showing worry. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I answer him, but I can tell he doesn't believe me. "I promise."

Brandon just nods as he takes my hand, and leads me towards the bedroom.


	7. Chapter 6

When I wake up, it's because Brandon is climbing out of bed. The warmth of his body was leaving me slowly, before I realized he was completely out of bed.

"Wait," I mumble, grabbing his hand. "Stay with me for a few more minutes."

Brandon doesn't say anything, just gets in next to me, and I rest my head on his chest, Mariana words still in my mind.

_Isn't having a family more important than having a boyfriend?_

_Having a family is important, I think. But isn't your family is supposed to accept you for who you are? Even it is something like having feelings for your foster brother? _

I'm wasn't going to lie to myself, Mariana was right. A family is what everybody deserves. Expect me. Jude deserves one, but I don't. I ruin everything for people that I care about. I'm the one who ruined things for Jude, aren't I?

"Thinking about what Mariana said?" Brandon whispers, and I look at him.

"Yeah," I answer truthfully. It was no use to lying to him. He can read me like a book. "I mean, she is right. Having a family is important."

"I'm not going to disagree with that," Brandon says carefully, as if reading his words from a card. "But you were right too. Just because Stef and Lena don't adopt you, it doesn't mean that aren't part of our family. We shouldn't need to have some dumb ass signed papers to show that you are."

I smile weakly. "What are we gonna to do when Stef and Lena find out?"

Brandon smiles, looking at me. "Let's not think about that right now," He answers, kissing me. "It's not that important right now." He murmurs against my lips. I don't answer him, instead, I just kiss him back before we have to get the day started. Tomorrow we'd be going back to school. Brandon called Anchor Beach yesterday, and somehow convinced them to let me come back. Maybe it was because he's the vice principal son.

I pull away and look at him, suddenly hungry. "What's for breakfast?" I ask. "I hope your cooking skills are better than your dad."

"Well, I've heard that I make some serious pancakes."

As it turned out, Brandon does make some really good pancakes, better than mine.

He laughed at me, "Want another one?"

I shake my head. "No, I'm okay."

"I'll add extra chocolate chips."

"I'm good."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Brandon doesn't say anything, just starts cleaning up the floor, where flour had fell after I knocked it over. There's knock on the door, and I can only imagine Stef and Lena standing there, with disappointed looks on their faces. I'm the one who ran away after they asked me if it was okay to adopt me, and I said yes. Then I just booked it.

I swallow. "I'll get it," I tell Brandon, who started down the hall. He looks back at me, a confused look on his face. "I got it." I tell him, walking past him.

I open the door, and Mariana stands there, a small frown on her face. At first, I don't move. I was surprised to Mariana again.

"Do you want to come in?" I ask, still somewhat surprised.

"I'm sorry!" Mariana tells me, hugging me. "I didn't mean any of that! I just wanted a sister!"

"It's fine?" I tell her, but it's more like a question. I didn't expect Mariana to be at the door again, sorry for what she said yesterday.

"I shouldn't have said anything like that! You're right! Just because you don't get adopted, it doesn't mean you aren't my sister. We shouldn't need a signature to prove that. It just matters if we feel like that, right? I mean it's okay to feel like you're my sister, right? It shouldn't matter if you like Brandon."

"It's okay," I tell her. "Really."

"But I judged you for liking Brandon!" Mariana tells me. "That's not fair."

She sound like she was on the verge of tears. "Hey. Hey, it's okay. I didn't leave. I'm right here. I'm still here. I still care about you," I look at her. "Do you really feel that bad?"

Mariana nods. "I know that you've been judge your entire life. I just didn't want you to hate me."

"I'm not going to hate you, Mariana."

"But I-"

"She doesn't hate you," Brandon says. "She's not going to lie."

"She might hate me after she finds out what happened last night." Mariana says, her voice quiet.

"What happened? Jude is okay, right? They aren't sending him away, are they? They can't! It's my fault!"

"Cals," Brandon mumbles. "They love Jude."

"Last night, I told Jude that you were here, Callie. I explained everything to him. Moms heard us talking. Jude told me to let him see you, but I told him no."

"But I need to tell him why I left! I need to let him know it wasn't his fault!" I take a deep breath. "Please tell me they're still going to adopt him. He deserves a family."

Mariana looks at the floor. "I don't know that. They're talking about fostering him, but not adopting him."

My heart sinks. Jude would be heartbroken. He loves the Fosters. He wants to get adopted by them. He has too. I shake my head.

"They have to adopt him! It's Jude."

"I'm sorry Callie. I should have just kept quiet about it. I just made things even worse."

I don't say anything. Instead, I imagine what Jude would be thinking right now. Would he be blaming me? Probably. Does he hate me? Yeah, that too. He'd be wondering why they don't want him. He's a good kid. Jude deserves so much more than a sister like me. I ruin everything. I can see him on his bed in Jesus' room, just sitting there, blaming me. Blaming Brandon. Telling himself that it was his fault that I left.

"He hates me," I mutter. "He's gonna say it's all my fault. You need to tell Stef and Lena that they can't do that. Tell them that Jude needs them."

"Callie, I- it might not wo-"

"Then tell them that _they_ need Jude! Tell them that you want him!" I take a deep breath. "Anything, Mariana! You have to promise me that you'll make sure that they'll adopt him. Please."

"I'll try, but they won't lis-"

"Do anything! Just make sure he's happy for me. I want him to be happy."

"Okay. I'll try."

"No, you'll do it. You'll make sure that he becomes your brother. Just make sure that my choice doesn't affect Stef and Lena's about Jude, Mariana. That's all I'm asking you."

Brandon hand finds mine, and I feel a little better. Brandon always seemed to be there for me when I needed him.

"I'm going to, Callie. I promise. He's my brother." Mariana walks out the door again, and I look at Brandon.

"They'll keep him, right? They love him, don't they? I mean, Jude needs them. And they need him. It just makes sense to adopt him."

"Yeah, it does. But it's still missing a piece."

"What?"

"They're missing you."

"What? Are you saying that we shouldn't do this?"

Brandon shakes his head. "I'm not trying to make you change your mind, Callie. I'm really not, but it's your choice. I'm just saying that if they adopt Jude, it might not feel the same to them," His green eyes meet mine. "They need you, too."


	8. Chapter 7

_They need you too. _

_And you need them. You need a family, don't you? _

A voice in my head keeps repeating that. It sounds like a drum is being played right next to my ear. I'm sitting on the counter, and I can feel Brandon staring at me. He's concerned. I can tell. I haven't said anything since he told me that Stef and Lena need me.

_They do. You need them too. You know he's right. Just forget about him. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't be in this mess right now. _

Another voice comes in.

_She needs him too. Where would Jude be if it weren't for him?_

The other voice stays quiet for a few minutes.

_He'd still be safe at the fosters._

_Her dad was ready to shoot her, dumbass. He'd be heartbroken._

_Like he is now because she's not with him. She needs a family._

_She doesn't have to get adopted for one. _

_Yes. She does. What can Brandon give her? _

_Nothing._

"Callie?" Brandon finally decides to say something, and it made the voices shut up. I look up at him, thankful that my mind wasn't split into two parts anymore.

"Yeah?" I answer, swinging my feet.

"You haven't said anything for an hour," Brandon informs me, standing in front of me, his hands resting on my thighs. "I wasn't trying to make yo-"

"Change my mind?"

Brandon licks and bites his bottom lip, "Yeah. Or confuse you. I wa-"

I cut him off, kissing him. I can tell I catch him off guard, but he quickly gets over it.

"I promised that I wasn't going to leave you," I mumble against his lips. "I'm going to keep it." It's the truth, because honestly, I don't want to leave him at all. After two months of finding out new things about him, and opening up to him, and letting him know things about me, it was almost impossible to imagine not being with him.

Brandon starts to pull away, resting his head on my forehead. "But I... Cals..."

I already miss the feeling of his lips on mine, so I kiss him gently, grabbing his shirt and pull him closer to me.

"I know," I murmur. "I know."

Brandon gives up on talking, and kisses me back, his hands traveling up my thighs and rest on my waist, running his tongue along my bottom lip, I open my mouth, my tongue intertwining with his while his hands travel to the back of thighs and pick me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck.

Brandon smiles, and starts to make his way to the bedroom. "I don't think I'll ever get used to you kissing me like this." He mumbles as he kicks the door shut.

I laugh. "Well, then I guess I'll keep doing it."

Brandon doesn't say anything, pins me against the wall and begins to trail kisses from my jawline, down to my neck and hits the sweet spot in the crook. I inhale sharply as his lips make contact and he responds by focusing on that one spot, licking and sucking. "Brandon, oh god- please..."

He breaks contact with my skin and looks me in the eye, lust and desire hooding his green gaze. "Too much?" he teases.

Instead of replying, I take his hand and firmly lead him to the bed, falling onto the soft cushion with him on top.

He supports his own weight with half his body on mine. For a few minutes, I just look up at him, waiting for him do something, and I bite my lip.

"God, don't do that," He mumbles.

I'm confused. "Do what?"

"Bite your lip."

"Why not?"

"It makes me w- oh, fuck it." He mutters, his lips crashing down on to mine. My fingers find his hair, while his lips travel down to my jawline again, his lips barely brushing against my neck. I close my eyes, and push him closer to me.

"God, Callie..." Brandon voice trails off again, sucking my neck, causing me to moan.

I can tell Brandon smiles, and his hands travel to the hem of my jeans, his fingers tracing the skin above them. He pauses for a second, then starts to unbutton them.

For a few seconds, it's not Brandon who's pressed against me, but its Liam, who's forcefully pulling my jeans off of my hips.

I suddenly push Brandon off of me, and sit up, buttoning my jeans up quickly.

Brandon stares at me in shock, his hands up, as if showing he isn't going to do anything. I know he wouldn't do anything to hurt me on purpose, but I can't get the memories of that night out of my head right now. How Liam forcefully shoved me against the wall, before asking me again, even though he wasn't going to listen to my answer.

"I-I'm sorry, Brandon," I tell him, shaking my head. "I- I just.. It's just th- I'm sorry," I don't know what else to tell him. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Brandon asks gently. "I get it. I don't want to push to far."

I rub my temples, looking away from him. "I-I... it's just that y-"

"Callie, look at me," I don't look at him, and I can feel his hand underneath my chin, forcing me to look at him. "Why are you sorry?" He asks again, his green eyes staring at me gently.

"I-I- I don't know," I answer, fumbling with my words. "It's just th-"

"Callie, just because you aren't ready to sex with me," He lets out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Doesn't mean you have to be sorry for it." He lets out another nervous laugh. "I was going kinda fast, wasn't I?"

I still don't answer, not wanting to say anything, because if I say anything, I'd sound like a complete moron, but I speak anyways.

"But y-"

Brandon stands up, taking my hand. "That doesn't matter. Come on. We're going out."

Brandon decided to make time pass by going out for a walk, more like looking for jobs. I don't mind, I'm still a little shaken up from earlier, and Brandon notices. The only thing that he does is hold my hand, like he's afraid that I'll leave if he does anything else.

We were causally looking at keyboards at the music store, when he suddenly speaks again, his words completely random. "I'm sorry."

I look up at him. "For what?"

Brandon runs his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry. I feel horrible that I wa-"

"Hey, it doesn't matter. It's okay."

"But it doesn't feel like that. I feel like that I have to tell you I'm sorry, because I am sorry. I just feel like no matter how many times I tell you, you won't believe me."

"Brandon?"

"Yeah?"

"It's okay. I promise."

Brandon nods like he wants to believe me, his green eyes not meeting mine. "Yeah, okay." He mumbles, his free hand playing a few notes. "Sure."

I rest my head on his shoulder. "You should apply here," I tell him. "You'd be good at it."

Brandon laughs. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, you're good at the piano, and you know the guitar pretty well. Why not? You can give piano lessons here or something."

"Okay, I am not _that_ good."

"B, have you even heard yourself play? You're amazing!"

"I'm not that good." He repeats simply, wrapping his arm around my waist.

"We need to check your hearing," I mumble to myself. "Seriously."

Brandon hears me, and he kisses my temple. "Well, you're beautiful."

"And?" I ask jokingly, but Brandon goes on.

"And kind. And smart. And you have talent with guitar. Maybe you should get a job here."

"God, no. Don't even think about it."

Brandon just smiles and shakes his head. "Okay, fine. Don't get a job here. We should start our own business."

"Okay. Company name?"

"Uh, Talented and beautiful?"

"Product?"

"Girls like you?"

"That's not a product, dummy."

"I know. But you fit the company's name."

I roll my eyes and punch his shoulder playfully. "Whatever you say, Foster."

"I think you need an eye appointment."

"Okay. I'll call the doctor."

Brandon gives me a fake pouty face. "This is the part where you laugh and shower me with kisses."

"Don't push your luck."

"Aha. So you were going to kiss me?"

"There's a slight possibility."

Brandon smiles. "Alright. So, how about a new guitar, Jacob?"

I shake my head. "No, I like the one at home."

"Any particular reason?" He teases.

"No. Maybe we should get you a new keyboard."

"I don't need a new keyboard."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! I- It's not like I need one. I'd think it be nice to have a new one, but I don't _need_ one."

"I think you need a new one."

"Yeah? So I can serenade any time you please?"

My face heats up, making Brandon smile. "That's a possibility." I mutter.

"Maybe I will get a new one for that reason," Brandon teases, playing a few notes on the nearest one. "How 'bout this one?"

"Don't look at me."

"Well, when I serenade you, I want to give you the best quality."

I laugh, letting go of his hand. "Play for me."

His face shows shock, and he looks around at the few other customers, but besides them the store is empty. "Like right now? Here?"

I nod. "You don't have to sing, just play."

"Callie, if this is so I get a job here or som-"

I cut him off, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Please?"

Brandon sighs and mumbles something and girlfriends and music, but starts playing anyway.

Brandon look likes he's in his own little world, which I guess he is. His fingers run along the keys expertly, oblivious to the people who started to stop and listen. I smile, recognizing the song. It was the song he showed me my first day at Anchor Beach, it just sounded a little more complex.

When his finishes the song, I can tell he was surprised by the people clapping.

He looks at me, giving me a small smile as most of the people start walking away, expect for a little boy, who's looking at Brandon in awe.

"How'd you do that, sir?"

Brandon looks shocked, and raises an eyebrow at me, as if saying I'm a sir?

"Well, I- uh," Brandon runs his fingers through his hair. "I learned how to play when I was young. How old are you?"

"Ten, sir."

Brandon smiles. "You can call me Brandon, kiddo. What's your name?"

"Ethan," The boy says. "Can you teach me?"

"I- uh, I..." Brandon looks at me for help, and I shrug. "I don't work here."

Ethan smiles, showing a row of crooked teeth. "That's okay," He tells Brandon. "I know the guy who owns this place."

"Can't he teach you?" Brandon asks.

"He can't play piano," Ethan says sadly. "But he knows a lot about it, but can't play."

"Well," Brandon says giving Ethan a small smile. "I want to meet him. Maybe he'll like me."

Ethan disappears down one of the aisles, and Brandon and I follow him. I feel weird about following a ten year old through a store, but Brandon takes my hand and continues to follow him.

After a few minutes, Brandon pulls me up to the front counter, Ethan talking to a man.

"Justin, I found somebody to give piano lessons," Ethan says, looking at Brandon. "He's super good."

Justin looks over at Brandon and runs his hand through his beard, fixing his glasses. For some reason, he reminds me of Si from Duck Dynasty.

"How old are you?" He questions, squinting his eyes.

"Uh, sixteen, almost seventeen." Brandon answers.

Justin nods. "You play piano?"

"Yeah."

"How long?"

"Since I was six or seven."

"Play anything else?"

"I know a little guitar." Brandon offers.

"Hmm, play the piano for me," Justin commands, opening the door behind him. "I want to see how good you are."

Brandon follows Justin into the room and sits at the piano. "Uh, what do you want me to play?"

"The hardest piece you know."

After Brandon plays the piece, Justin just smiles.

"Ya know kid, if I still had my right hand, I still wouldn't be able to play that. And I've played since I was eight," He pats Brandon on the back. "Four days a week, four hours, 50 dollars an hour?"

"I- I- sure?"

"Well, you'll probably get more than that, if Ethan dad pays you to give him lessons. That man is rich as hell. I'm surprised that Ethan is nothing like his father."

"When should I start?" Brandon asks.

"Next Tuesday at four good? That's when most people start to come here."

"Yeah, that's fine," Brandon answers. "Well, thanks."

"Ah, no, thank you."

A few minutes later, after getting out of the store, Brandon looks down at me.

"How'd you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Make me get a job in less than an hour?"

"I made you play. I told you that you were good."

Brandon just shakes his head and smiles.


	9. Chapter 8

I shake Brandon's arm again. He was going to make us late for school. Everything that I have done seemed to do nothing.

I sigh, and run my fingers through my hair. "Come on, Brandon," I say, shaking his arm again in one last attempt. "We're gonna be late for school." If he didn't look so adorable when he was sleeping, I wouldn't have a problem with finding an air horn and blasting it in his ear.

"Just another minute?" I hear him mumble sleepily.

"Nice try, Foster," I tell him, throwing a clean t-shirt and jeans at him. "But we need to get to school on time."

Brandon grumbles a few things, but gets out of bed, pulling the T-shirt I threw at him over his head. "I don't get why you couldn't sleep with me for another minute."

I roll my eyes at him as he puts on his jeans and sneakers.

"Two reasons," I tell him, picking up my backpack from the floor. "Number one, we are going to be late to school if I stayed with you. Number two, that minute would have turned into hours."

"And I wouldn't have mind, neither would have you."

"You have way too much self confidence."

Brandon smirks at me. "Not true. I just don't want to go too school today."

"Well, deal with it," I say smiling. "You only have two more years."

"And college." He reminds me.

"I thought you didn't want to go to school."

Brandon wrinkles his nose at the word school. "Well, I must do the best I can."

"Yeah?"

"I mean, if I want to get a really good job. I mean, I don't plan on living in this apartment forever."

I raise my eyebrow, and cross my arms over my chest.

"I'd think it be nice to go to college, you know? Get a degree and get a good job, buy a house on the beach or something. You should go to college, too. For photography or something. Then we'll buy a house." Brandon bites his lip, and turns around to get his hoodie.

"You want something else, too." I say, biting my own lip, letting my arms fall to my sides, and Brandon turns around to face me, and steps closer to me, close enough for our chests to touch, his green eyes meeting mine.

"That's only if you want it."

Brandon suddenly steps away, grabbing his backpack. "Well, we don't want to be late, right?" And he leaves the room.

I look away, at my feet, somewhat confused. I go over the thought of having children. He acted like it was simple. Like it's my choice, it should be his choice, too. But he acted like it was all mine. I must've stood there longer than I thought because Brandon has to come back.

"Coming?"

I give him and small smile. "Yeah," I answer quietly. "I'm coming."

* * *

I feel like one of the poor new kid at school like in the movie. When Brandon and walk in through the doors, one person looks at us, then another, then the entire school was looking at us. It looked like a disease that was contagious. Some kids were nice enough to give Brandon and I smiles, but other than that, kids were watching us and whispering into each other ears, with no doubt, talking about us.

"This place is so high school." I mutter to myself, but Brandon hears, and laughs, wrapping his arm around my waist.

"Just ignore them," He whispers in my ear. "I'd be staring at you too, with your beauty and everything."

His comment makes me laugh. "Well, maybe I'd stare at you." I tell him, and he looks at me.

"Maybe?" He asks, pretending to look hurt.

"Yeah. I can't decide if you're attractive or not."

"Way to boost somebody's self esteem, Callie. I really feel confident in myself." He tells me as the bell rings.

I grab the front of his hoodie and pull him closer to me as I kiss him quickly. "That's okay," I tell him. "I'm not gonna lie, I think you look hot."

Brandon smiles, and kisses me again. "Thanks. You look good too."

"Well, I gotta go," I tell him, looking around the nearly empty hallways. "Don't want to be late for class, right?"

"Yeah, see you next period."

I started walking towards my class with Timothy, when I feel him tug on my hand, pulling me to him. His lips on mine again fast and gentle.

"Sorry," Brandon tells me, pulling away, resting his forehead on mine. "I just wanted to kiss you again before you leave."

I bite my lip, and smile. "Well, I'm glad you did."

This time he doesn't stop me.

* * *

"Callie!" I turn towards the voice, and see Mariana walking towards me, a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"So, I talked to moms about the whole thing with Jude's adoption, like you asked me to."

"They're keeping him, right?" I ask, worried. "Please tell me they're keeping him."

"You worry too much!" Mariana says, smiling. "Of course they are! They just want to wait some time before the adoption."

I smile, suddenly relived. "That's great, even if they're waiting a little bit. That's great. He's happy about it, right?"

"I'm gonna have another brother!" Mariana squeals, and I can't help but to smile.

"Yeah, you are."

"He is nowhere close to as annoying as Jesus."

"Jesus isn't that bad." I tell her, and she rolls her eyes.

"Try being his twin."

I laugh, "Yeah, maybe he is kinda bad. I know you said that they wanted to wait awhile, but they have a date in mind, right?"

"I'm not sure."

I don't answer right away, and I feel strong hands on my waist. "You okay?" Brandon asks.

"Yeah," I answer, leaning against his chest. "Me and Mariana were just talking about Jude's adoption."

"So, they're going too adopt him?" Brandon asks.

"Yes!" Mariana squeals. "Now it won't be just you and Jesus!"

"That's great! He's excited, right?"

"Yeah! You should've seen how happy he was this morning."

The idea of Jude being happy makes me smile.

"How's everybody else?" Brandon asks, and Mariana shrugs.

"Jesus is having girl problems, Jude is his normal happy self, and Stef and Lena, well, they're still upset. They actually asked Jude if it was okay for them to go on with his adoption without you, Callie."

"They shouldn't have to ask, I mean, it's Jude. He wants a family." I tell her, even though my heart sinks at the thought if just Jude officially becoming a part of the family.

Mariana seems to notice, because she gives me a small smile. "Hey, it's okay. You're still my sister."

"Yeah," I manage. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Hey! Don't doubt it! You _are_ my sister, okay?" Mariana tells me, like she's trying to convince me, and I nod.

"Okay."

Mariana looks at the time at her phone, "Well, I gotta go. Mom said she'd drive us home today."

Mariana walks down the hall, and I try not to follow her, even though I want to so badly. I want to see Jude.

"You want to see Jude," Brandon whispers in my ear, and I turn around to face him. "You miss Jude."

"I know," I say, not trying to deny it. "I just want to see him."

"And there's nothing wrong with that."

"Brandon, yes there is. I-"

"He's your brother. You should be able to see him when you want too."

"Well, I can't."

"Why not?"

I look up at him, "Do you really think that he's gonna want to see me?" I ask him.

"He should! He'a crazy if he doesn't miss you, Callie."

I shrug, "He's fine."


	10. Chapter 9

Today, school finally seemed normal, nobody wanted to stop what they were doing and stare at me and Brandon.

After a week.

It's a record.

Most of the time, I was used to have kids stare at me for at least two months, sometimes three.

Brandon is nervously taking stuff out of his locker, grabbing textbooks for his homework.

"I don't see why you're so worried," I tell him, sighing. "I mean, you got a job there without even giving him a resume."

"That's why I'm nervous," Brandon answers, trying to fix the tie that was around his neck loosely. "He probably thinks is funny and is gonna just fire me or something."

I sigh, and fix his buttoned up shirt, which was uneven. "You'll be fine," I tell him, fixing his tie as well. "Trust me."

"I'm just nervous."

"I know. You shouldn't be though, everything will be fine. I promise. It's not like it's your first day and you're an hour late."

"Well, maybe I will be late."

I roll my eyes. "It's fine. I'll drive you."

Brandon seems to clam down, and smiles. "Okay."

The car ride is quiet, and Brandon doesn't seem to be nervous anymore, which is a good thing.

I park in front of the store, and Brandon looks over at me. "What are you gonna do while I'm in there?"

"I'll keep you company," I shrug. "I'm not in the mood to do homework."

Brandon just smiles and gets out of the car, looking back as if he wants me to follow. So I get out and ignore my vibrating phone.

When we walk inside, Justin is already talking to us.

"You're late!"

"I-I uh, I'm sorry."

Justin rolls his eyes. "Can't take a joke. You're the first person I've hired that bothered to even come on the first day, and you're early!"

Brandon smiles. "So that's a good thing?"

I roll my eyes and sit on the counter. "Why wouldn't it be?" I ask, and Justin laughs.

"You better keep him," He whispers to me before turning his attention to Brandon. "Ethan is going to be here with his dad soon," He tells Brandon. "And you're going to have to sign some paper work."

"Why?"

"Because, you do. Unless you don't want to get paid."

"I, uh, I'm still surprised I'm even gonna get paid."

The door flies open, and Ethan runs in, wearing a suit, his blonde hair gelled back. "I'm here!" He smiles as the door opens again, and a man in a suit and briefcase walks in.

"Ethan, I told you not to run." Ethan looks just like his dad, blonde hair and the blue eyes. It was impossible that they aren't related.

Ethan smile disappears, and he looks down at his polished shoes. "Sorry, Father."

"Father?"

"Sorry, Sir." Ethan corrects himself, still looking at his shoes, putting his hands into his pockets.

"I have to sign something?" Ethan dad asks, pulling a pen out of his pocket. "How much is it?"

"I, uh, I don't know, sir." Ethan says, still not able to look at his dad.

Justin smacks the counter next to me, causing me to jump. " , just sign these papers, then you'll be good."

"You can't play piano. Why would I waste money on a one armed man?"

Justin doesn't seemed fazed by the comment, and just shrugs. "I didn't say I was gonna teach the kid, did I?"

"Well, who is going to teach the kid?"

"I am, Sir." Brandon says, standing up, and offering his hand. "Brandon. Brandon Foster."

Ethan dad doesn't shake Brandon's hand, just shrugs and pulls out a few hundred dollars bills.

"Here you go. Don't make me disappointed in the kid."

"I-I, uh, I can't take that. That's a lot of damn money."

Ethan dad shoves the money into his hand. "I'm not giving you a choice. Same time tomorrow, or I'm not going to pay you at all."

Ethan dad walks out the door, grumbling something about dumb kids these days, and Ethan is still looking at his feet.

"You okay, buddy?" Brandon ask, bending down in front of him.

"I'm sorry about my father, Sir." Ethan mutters, and Brandon sighs.

"I don't care about your father, and call me Brandon. I feel weird when you call me sir."

It makes Ethan laugh. "Okay."

Brandon smiles. "Okay. Ready to hear my amazing talent?"

I follow Brandon and Ethan into the room, and Brandon sits down, Ethan sitting down next to him.

"Okay," Brandon says, opening the cover. "We're going to start with me showing you all of the notes, okay?"

Ethan nods, and Brandon hand travels to the end of the piano, playing the last key on the left.

"C."

"Okay."

"D."

My phone vibrates again, making me groan. I look at the text message from Wyatt.

_How are you doing? _

I think about answering him, but I don't want too, and at the same time I feel like it's wrong to not answer him.

_Good_.

I text back, maybe if I give him one word answers, he'd give up. He hated it when I didn't answer him fully when we dated.

Wyatt texts back immediately.

_That's good. I heard that you're back in San Diego. How did your moms take it? _

_I'm not living with Stef and Lena... _

_Why not? I thought that's why you went back. _

_I came back because it's my home. And it's where Jude is._

_I'm surprised you didn't say Brandon. You're all over him. I thought family is more important than a boyfriend. What can he give you? _

I look away from my phone, not knowing what to say. I look over at Brandon, who's smiling at Ethan, and I can't help but chuckle to myself. Then, I remember how Brandon helped me get Jude out of that hell-hole. Then he gave me his guitar. Or that time where he tried to help me about Liam and tried to have Sarah listen to me, even though he could've easily just leave. And the time before the trial with Liam, he made me feel like it was okay to tell the truth. I shouldn't have to hide what Liam did to me. Sure, we fought about things, but I would have gotten no where without him. Then I pulled the strings too hard and ran away after I kissed him, but he still didn't give up on me. Brandon hasn't done anything but give me love.

My phone vibrates again, and I expect it to be Wyatt, but it's Mariana.

_Moms want to check in with you guys. And have dinner._

_Is this a good idea? I mean, are they still angry upset about it?_

_They're more like upset. They both miss you a lot. So does Jude. _

My heart drops a little at the mention of Jude.

_I miss Jude too. How is he?_

_He's actually doing better than any of us thought he would._

_He's a strong kid. Is all I manage to text back. _

_We're proud of him. He has been hanging out a lot with Connor lately._

_That's great. So he's been doing fine?_

_For the most part. We have to be careful about what we say. Sometimes we'd mention you and it upsets him. _

_I'm sorry. I didn't really want to leave any of you._

_Back on topic! This is making me feel sad. How about dinner with us on Friday night? _

_Uh, sure. What time?_

_8:00?_

_Brandon would have to get out of work a little early, but yeah, that's a good time. _

_Brandon has a job?_

I laugh, causing Brandon and Ethan to look at me, but I ignore them, and text Mariana back.

_Yeah, why?_

_How did that happen? There was this long time of period of time when no matter what he did, he couldn't get a job. _

_I worked my magic and made him play the piano in a music store. _

_Makes sense. Mom wants to know what you want for dinner on Friday. _

_Uh, spaghetti and meatballs?_

_Okay._

_That's not too much, right?_

_Callie, it's just pasta and meatballs._

_Meatballs are a lot of work. I can imagine Mariana rolling her eyes at me. _

_Not really. Just relax about it. _

_Okay. How are things with you and that senior kid?_

_I have to work with him for the school play. We practiced lines last week. _

_And he kissed you?_

_Yeah. _

_So you're like a thing now?_

_No really. It's complicated._

_Life is complicated. Your point is?_

_Nothing. I gtg. Jesus is being annoying again._

I think about turning off my phone, but I felt like I still needed to answer Wyatt's question.

_What can he give you?_

Wyatt hasn't given me anything like Brandon has, he's almost gotten me arrested, made things worse with Liam. Didn't stop me from running away when he knew that What he was doing was wrong. I know Wyatt actually cares about me, but he hasn't showed it to me like Brandon has.

I go back to mine and Wyatt conversation, and take a deep breath, what I was going to text him can't be that bad if it's the truth, right? Still I feel bad, but I decide to text Wyatt back.

_More than you ever can._


	11. Chapter 10

I groan when my phone starts going off, and I look at Brandon, who is closest to it.

"Can you answer that?"

Brandon nods, and picks it up.

"Hello?"

"Brandon?" I can make out Mariana's confused voice.

"Yes, it's Brandon. I'm so glad you can recognize your own brother, Mariana."

"Oh, shut up. Moms made me call you guys to see if you're still coming over tonight for dinner."

"What?" Brandon asks, running his fingers through his hair.

"Oh my god. Just let me talk to Callie, Brandon."

"But, I- uh, I. Never mind."

Brandon just gives up on talking and hands me my phone.

"Yes?"

"You're still going to come over today, right?"

Shit. I completely forgot about having dinner with them tonight.

"Yeah, but do I have to wear the dress you gave me?"

"Of course you do! Everybody is going to dress up nice, make sure Brandon wears a suit."

"Okay."

"Okay!" Mariana says cheerfully. "See you in an hour!"

I look at the time, which read 7:00, then at Brandon, who's watching me.

"Uh, We're going over to your moms for dinner." I offer him, and he smiles.

"I figured that out by now, Cals."

"We have to dress up nice. Go put your suit on."

Brandon stands up, and takes off his t-shirt, and throws it at me playfully.

"Okay, your highness."

"When was the last time we cleaned this shirt?" I ask him, and he shrugs.

"I don't know."

"It's disgusting." I tell him, and he starts to walk away, his back muscles seem to tease me, so I do the only thing I can think of.

I throw the shirt at him and it hits him in the back of his head.

"Headshot!"

Brandon just lets the shirt fall to the floor and smiles at me innocently, his dimples showing. "Shouldn't you be getting ready?"

"I don't know, should I be getting ready?" I ask him, getting up from the couch.

"I think you should, you know, since girls take longer."

"I think you need to pay more attention to get ready. You've already wasted ten minutes."

"It's not my fault you enjoy what you see so much."

"Hm, I don't know. You're losing some of it." I tell him, one of my hands tracing the muscles on his stomach, and my lips barely brush against his, causing him to groan.

"Callie..."

"Go get ready." I tell him, and he pouts crossing his arms.

"We can always cancel dinner."

"Nice try, Foster. Get ready."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

Brandon just smiles and walks away, already pulling his jeans off.

I follow him, and get dressed as fast I can, deciding that it would be easier if I leave my hair down. I look over to see Brandon struggling with his tie.

"Out of all of the things you know how to do, tying a tie is not one of them?" I ask, moving his hands and tie the tie for him.

"I try," He tells me, wrapping his arm around my waist, his lips brushing against my jawline. "Do we have to go to dinner?" He asks huskily, pulling me closer as he brushes his lips against my neck again, and I loose my train of focus for a few moments.

"Uh, I... We said that we would go..."

Brandon looks up, his green eyes meeting mine. "I can always call them."

"Yeah, because that's a great idea when they already think that the only reason why we're doing this is because we're just bunch of horny teenagers who can't keep their hands off each other." I reply, fixing his collar.

"Well, now that you put it that way..."

I pick up the heels Mariana said would look good with the dress, and grab the keys from the dresser and look back at him.

"Coming?"

I take a deep breath, and sigh before I knock on the door twice. I stand next to Brandon for a few minutes before the door opens, Jude stands still, looking at me.

And I can't help but to stare back at him, his eyes meeting mine. Jude looks different from the past two months I've gone without seeing him. He looks taller, his hair is longer, he has dark circles underneath his eyes like he's been staying up late every night. My throat tightens, and I can feel tears threatening to spill.

"Jude!" I choke out, wrapping my arms around him, and I feel his arm wrap around me. "I'm so sorry," I whisper. I missed Jude a lot more than I let myself believe. "I'm sorry for everything, Jude. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

"What?" I ask, taking his face in my hands. "Why?"

"For saying all of those horrible things, Callie. You're not selfish, I am."

"Because you want a family?"

"Because you worked so hard to find us a family. I'm so sorry. I was just thinking about me, and you did one thing for yourself and I just flipped. You've done everything for me. I'm sorry. I swear it wasn't me! It was puberty talking!"

I laugh, and wipe away the tears that started to fall from his eyes. "It's okay, Jude. It's okay. You're still my brother. It doesn't change anything."

"I miss you!" Jude says, wrapping his arms around me again, sobbing. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."

I just hold Jude for what seems hours, but I don't mind, letting his tears stain Mariana's dress. It was clear that both of us needed it, and nobody bothers us, everybody leaves us alone, making small talk in the kitchen or in the living room, and all I can think is that Jude doesn't hate me, and that it's a good sign. He misses me as much as I miss him, and it makes me feel a little better that I was here tonight.

I feel bad that I wouldn't be staying.

Jude pulls away, and I look at him. "So, how have you been?"

"Uh, okay, I guess. Mariana has been helping me with homework and some of my projects from school. Connor and I talk more often now."

I manage to give him a smile, even though I feel upset that Mariana has been helping him with his homework. I was used to helping him with his math homework, before we got to The Fosters, I'd be failing all of my classes and focus on Jude's grades the best I could. And it looks like Mariana has taken my spot.

"Judicorn!" Mariana shouts happily, causing me to look up at her. "Your paper is perfect for tomorrow!"

Jude smiles, and takes the paper from her. "Thanks, Mariana."

Mariana smiles and starts going into depth about whatever his paper was about, and I slowly walk away, and neither of them notice.

I sit on the couch next to Brandon, and he takes my hand.

"Done talking to Jude already?" He asks, his thumb running over my knuckles.

"He has Mariana." I say simply, not wanting to talk about Jude.

Brandon looks over at me, but I don't meet his eyes. It's stupid. I shouldn't be upset that Jude is happy with Mariana, right? "It's more than that," Brandon murmurs, his hand under my chin, making me look at him. "You wish that you're the one helping him. You wish that you're still here with him."

I sigh. "That's true, but if I d-"

"Dinner!" Lena yells, and everybody crowds around the table, and no doubt, everybody was starving because of the late dinner. In The Foster household, dinner was normally at six, the latest six thirty.

I between Brandon and Jesus, knowing that it wouldn't be awkward if Brandon and I made small talk, and Jesus would be to involved with his dinner to talk to me. At first, there is an awkward silence, but I expected for that to happen. After a few minutes of me playing with the meatball, Stef speaks up.

"You okay, honey?" I look up, only to find everybody looking at me, and I shrug.

"Yeah," I manage, playing with the meatball again. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You haven't eaten anything."

"I'm fine." I repeat before taking a small sip of water, hoping it would clam my nerves. This is stupid. I shouldn't be so nervous, this isn't any different from the past two months I've been here. It shouldn't be any different, but it was. Its quite again after I answer Stef, and this time Lena is the one who decides to start talking.

"So, how have you two been?"

"I-uh, We're doing good," Brandon answers, running his long fingers through his hair. "I got a job at the music store."

Lena smiles. "That's great, and I've notice that you two are in school again."

Both of us nod at the same time. "Yeah," I say. "There's really nothing to do but go to school if we want to go to college."

Lena raises an eyebrow. "You two have talked about going to college?"

"Uh, we've mentioned it, but we don't know where we want to go if that's what you're asking." I tell her.

"I think that it's great that you two still want to go to college."

"Both of us want to get good jobs," Brandon says. "We're going to college so we can. Just because we're living on our own, it doesn't mean we're not gonna go to college. I mean, it's college."

"No, I understand that it doesn't change anyth-"

Stef cuts Lena off. "It changes everything, Lena! I'm sorry to be so harsh about it, but you and Brandon cannot be together!"

"But you and Lena can be together?" I demand, finally able to meet Stef eyes.

"Mine and Lena relationship is different, Callie!"

"No it's not! It's exactly the same thing! People don't want you to be together, but you are anyways. Nobody wants Brandon and me together! What the hell is the difference? You being lesbians, and me and Brandon being Foster siblings? It's exactly the same thing!"

"That is no way to talk to me, young lady!"

I open my mouth to say something that probably would've Stef kick me and Brandon get kicked out of the house, but I feel Brandon hand on my thigh, and I decide to drink some of my water instead, deciding it would be safer.

The silence only lasted for at the tops for 30 seconds when Stef blurts the question that makes me spit my water out in shock.

"Are you two having sex?"

I start to choke, and I feel Brandon hand on my back. "Are you okay?"

I nod weakly, and Brandon looks over at Stef, his other hand still resting on my thigh. "No, we haven't, mom."

"Are you sure? Because if you two hav-"

"We haven't had sex!" Brandon and I say at the same time.

"Well, I think you should be on the pill, Callie."

I almost choke again, but Brandon hand moves higher, and I calm down a little. "You want me on birth control? Why the hell shou-"

"Because teenagers have sex, and it's simple as that. You should be birth control, Callie. What if you go to far?"

"Well, I'll just make sure that Brandon picks up another pack of condoms on the way home, then!" I say, not able to keep it back, and everybody just looks at me in shock, even Brandon, his mouth hanging open.

"Callie..." Lena looks at me, and even though I know she isn't like Stef and is trying to get me to change my mind about Brandon, but I still feel angered that she's even talking like she knows what it feels like when everybody you trust is against you. I stand up suddenly, the chair sliding a few inches behind me.

"Look, if you don't want me anymore because of the possibility of me and Brandon having sex, I don't care. Just adopt Jude. It's what he deserves. Don't let my choice affect his life."

I turn around to leave, and I can hear all of them calling after me, and the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, probably Brandon, but I still don't look back. They don't feel like my family right now. I don't close the door, knowing that Brandon is right on my heels.

"Callie!" I don't turn back to look at him, I just keep walking towards his car. "Cals! The least you can do is look back so I know you hear me!"

I turn around suddenly before I open the car door, angry. I'm not angry and Brandon, but still.

"What? Do actually want to go and stop at the sto-"

The next thing I know is that my face is in Brandon hands and he's kissing me roughly. "No, I think that you're freakin crazy for saying all of that stuff, but I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty cool."

I roll my eyes. "Just unlock the car."

Brandon smiles, "As you wish, sweetheart."

I hear the car unlock, and I open the door, not bothering to say anything thing to him. The car ride is quiet, and it's probably for the best. I could tell Brandon wanted to talk about what happen tonight, and I didn't. He parks the car quickly, and looks over at me.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I tell him, getting out of the car. "Why wouldn't I be?"

I walk towards our apartment door, fumbling for the key, and I can feel Brandon press his muscular chest against me. I lean back to his chest, still fumbling for the keep when his strong hands move my hair from my shoulders, his lips finding my newly exposed neck.

I close my eyes, my skin feeling like its on fire, and I forget about opening the door.

I feel his hands on my shoulders, where they rest for a few moments before they slide down my arms, and his fingers intertwine with mine. "I forgot to tell you," He whispers, his lips pressed against my ear. "I think you look amazing."

I smile, and bite my lip. "You look hot."

I feel him chuckle against my neck, and he turns me around, my back pressed to the still locked door, pinning my wrists, slowly grinding his hips into mine.

I still haven't unlocked the door, "Uh, Brandon?" I ask.

"Mh?" Is his response as he kisses my jawline.

"You have the key, right?"

Brandon laughs, and he looks at me. "Yes."

"Well, I don't plan being out here all night, do you?"

"No," Brandon says, pulling the key out of his pocket to open the door, the door opens, and he smiles at me. "Ladies first."

I have to bite my lip from keeping myself from singing Frozen's love is an open door.

Brandon could tell what I wanted to do, because he just rolls his eyes and laugh as I walk in. The door closes quietly, and Brandon hasn't even put the key on the countertop when I kiss him.

My actions make him smile, the feeling of his lips against mine sent my heart racing and my skin is burning hot, he quickly placed one behind my head, pushing the kiss deeper.

My hands rest on his waist under his shirt and our kiss was only getting more intense by the second, I could feel his tongue slowly push through my lips where it finally reunited with my own. and pull me closer to him, our bodies pressing together. Both of his hands slide down to my upper thighs, and lift me up with ease.

Brandon pulls away, and looks down the hallway as he slowly walks down the short, dark hallway.

Once safely inside, Brandon walks over to the edge of the room and passionately slams my back against the wall, without hesitation I push my lips back onto his, and his tongue once again forced its way into my mouth.

His glides along mine and Brandon smiles as a soft moan escape from my mouth.

Brandon hands travel up my back, and start to unzip the dress, and I don't stop him. I want to get out of this dumb tight outfit anyways. After a few moments, he finally unzips it, and his fingers travel up on my back, making me shiver, his head dipping down to my neck, and he slides the straps off of my shoulders, and the dress falls to the floor around my ankles.

My fingers find his hair, and tug on it, and he responses by sucking on my sweet spot, and I moan.

On of my hands manage to find on of his, and pull him towards the bed. Brandon trips, and both of us fall onto the bed, him on top of me, and his green eyes make mine.

"I love you," He whispers, his lips inches from mine before he kisses me softly, biting my lower lip. "I really do."

My fingers go to his neck, where his tie is still around his neck, and I take it off, then slowly travel to his white button up shirt, and unbutton the first few before he kisses me again, his hips grinding against mine.

I unbutton the rest of his shirt, my hands going to his muscular shoulder blades, and ease the shirt off. Brandon practically rips his shirt off at this point, and moans when my lips come into contact with his chest.

"Callie..."

My hands travel down his muscular back, his skin seems to be burning, and I let my hands roam him, his chest, his biceps, his back, while he nips at my neck hungrily, licking and sucking. His lips travel away from my neck and starts to travel to my chest, and he moans.

"You're beautiful." He murmurs.

My hands travel down his chest again, and start to unbuckle his belt, and Brandon unbuttons his jeans and throws them somewhere on the floor.

Brandon eyes meet mine, and they're full of caring. "Are you sure?"

I have thought about it, ever since that accident last week, it basically was the only thing on my mind. Sex with Brandon. I know he isn't anything like Liam, and the first few times it crossed my mind, the thought still seemed to scare me a little bit, but now with one of his hands running up and down my leg, it doesn't seem bad at all.

Brandon is still staring at me, and I nod and bite my lip before he crashes his lips onto mine, dragging his teeth across my lower lip, causing me to moan.

Brandon hands slide down my sides slowly, his fingers toying with the end of my panties.

The next thing that I know is that my lips press against his neck as he pushed into my slowly. I moan, and pull away from his neck and look up at him, his green eyes meeting mine.

"I love you, Brandon."


	12. Chapter 11

When I wake up, my arm is across Brandon's bare torso, and I can tell he is staring at me. "Care to tell me why you're watching me?" I mumble into his chest, and he laughs.

"I'm still amazed by how beautiful you are."

I smile and move closer to him, "You don't have to stare at me."

"I can't stop myself." Brandon answers, lacing his fingers with mine.

"Hm. I'm sure."

"Hey!" He says, defending himself. "You stare at me."

"That's because I never get used to you."

"And I'm supposed to be used to you?"

"I don't know," I answer, smiling. "Maybe. You should, I mean, I literally lived in your house for two months."

Brandon laughs, and I push the hair out of his eyes, which looks like a rat nest from last night and he kisses me. "I'm hungry."

"You're such a boy."

"But I want to stay like this too."

"Stay for a few minutes, then you can cook me breakfast."

"Who said I was making breakfast?"

"I do," I say, playfully pushing him away from me. "Get to it."

"Fine. Chocolate chip pancakes?"

I have already buried my face in his pillow, and I hear him sigh. "Well, then."

After a few minutes of quiet, I can hear Brandon calling me. "Uh, Callie?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh, can you come here for a minute?"

I groan, and pull myself out of the comfy bed, and I wish that Brandon didn't leave at all. That would have been a lot better.

"Yeah?" I ask, walking into the kitchen, only to see Brandon leaning against the counter in only his boxers.

Brandon doesn't say anything, just nods his head towards the kitchen table, and I look over at it, only to see Mariana sitting in one of the chairs, her feet on the table, on her phone.

"Uh, how'd you get in?" I ask.

"Good morning to you too, well more like afternoon. You left the door unlocked, so."

"Just because the door is unlock, it doesn't mean that you can just walk in."

Mariana shrugs at Brandon's comment.

"I, uh, I can see that. Why are you here?" I ask her.

"Moms sent me to check on you since neither of you were answering your phones," Mariana tells me, smiling. "I will tell them that you two made it home safe and sound."

"Please do," Brandon answers. "Now you can leave."

"Geez, Brandon. Maybe I should tell moms what happened last night, because judging on your hair and Callie's outfit, you two had a lot of fun last night."

My cheeks heat up, and I look away from her, but she's already getting up. "If you two do plan on going out today, I'd clean up first." I can hear the door slam behind her.

"I, uh, well." Brandon says, opening the fridge, probably to get eggs and milk.

"That was unexpected."

"Very unexpected. At least it wasn't moms. That would have been about five hours of yelling from Stef, oh, and add on another hour of lecturing from Lena, so it would actually be six hours."

"Aww, they're just upset that their little wittle boy is all grown up." I say pinching his cheeks.

"My point is th-"

"Nobody would've been better."

Brandon looks at me and smiles. "Yeah, that would've been a lot better. We should've just stayed in bed."

"Well, I'm starting to get a little hungry now, so..."

Brandon pouts, crossing his arms. "I'm not hungry anymore."

"I'm sure, you're always hungry."

"Not true."

"Brandon, you're always eating something."

Brandon grumbles and turns on the stove, and starts making the pancake batter.

I elbow him out of the way. "I'll do it. You made a huge mess last time."

Brandon chuckles, and lets me push him away from the bowl, wrapping his arms around my waist. "That was you, Cals." He says in my ear.

"Same thing." I mutter, which only causes him to laugh.

"Certainly the same thing. You don't have to cook."

I shrug, "It's okay."

"Maybe I want to cook my amazing girlfriend breakfast on a Saturday morning." Brandon mumbles, kissing my cheek.

"It's almost one," I point out, gesturing to the clock, which was broken, so it really didn't prove my point, but Brandon pulls me closer to him, resting his chin on my shoulder.

"Same thing." I hear him mutter.

"Yeah, sure."

"At least let me help." He pleads.

"Okay, Okay. Gosh. I didn't think that you'd want to cook breakfast that much."

"My pancakes are killer."

I roll my eyes, and this time he's elbowing me out of the way playfully.

I give up, knowing there was no way he was going to let me even try to cook, and even if I did try, he'd just stay in the same place because he's like a rock.

I sit on the opposite counter and watch him as he knocks over the bowl of batter onto the floor.

I just smile as he swears.

"I blame you." He states, bending down to clean it up.

"You can do that," I tell him. "But I blame you when we don't have breakfast."

Brandon grumbles as he throws the paper towel into the garbage. "I tried my best."

After another ten minutes, Brandon cooked more pancakes. I look over at him, and he somehow managed to get batter on his chest.

"What are we doing today?" I ask, and Brandon shrugs.

"I don't know. We can just stay here all day or something. Do you want to do anything?"

I shrug, and he wraps his arms around my waist. I've gotten used to the feeling of his arms around me, and almost Every time, my response is to lean against him.

When I do, I can tell he smiles. "Well, what about today? What do you want to do?" He asks.

"I'm tired."

* * *

This chapter is kinda boring, but I made it, ya know, because I'm a horrible person and I'm making the next few chapters difficult for Brandon and Callie, not to mention Ethan. That's all I'm gonna tell you. -PercyFosterMellark


	13. Chapter 12

My phone vibrates in my back pocket, startling me. These days, sometimes I wonder why I even have a phone. I don't text Mariana everyday anymore, even though we got into that weird habit, and Wyatt, he hasn't texted me in months, and Brandon and I, well it doesn't make sense to text somebody who lives with you.

My phone suddenly stops vibrating and starts ringing loudly, to the ringtone of a minion laugh from despicable me. Brandon thought it was cute, so I haven't bothered to change it back.

I quickly grab it, and look at the caller. Brandon. He is a work, or should be, maybe Justin is letting him out early today, but I answer it.

"Hello?" I ask.

Brandon sound angry when he answers. "Callie?"

At first, I'm afraid that the anger is directed towards me, but Brandon keeps talking.

"I'm gonna need you to set up the guest bedroom," Brandon says, and I can hear him inhale sharply. "We're going to have a guest for the next few days."

"Okay, but, uh, what about work?"

"Justin is fine with it, I had to cancel my lesson with the girl, Lucy, I think who was going to start piano today, so her lesson tomorrow is going to be two hours. I'll explain more when I get home, Callie. I love you."

I don't have time to respond when he hangs up. Another sign that he could be mad. The only thing is to figure out why. Maybe it had to do with Ethan's father? I know him and Brandon aren't very fond of each other.

I go to the guest bedroom, only to see the bed in the middle of the room bare. I sigh, and grab the sheets on the chair by the desk and start making the bed.

I had just finished when I hear the door slam, Brandon dropping his car keys into the bowl on the dresser near the door before he shouts, "I'm home!"

The anger in his voice is much more clearer than it was on the phone.

I slide out of the bedroom, carefully, not that I was scared of him, but if there's anything I've learned from horrible foster fathers that I've had over the years, anger is the only thing that hurt people, wether they were drunk or not.

Anger is something that other people cannot control, everybody reacts to things differently, like pain or happiness, but anger is the same for everybody. You don't want to get in the way of somebody who is angry. The person with the anger is only one who knows how to control it. Everybody has an anchor.

"I'm here!" I say louder than I thought I would. My hands feel clammy and my throat tightens, all ready expecting the worse, thanks to my not great experience with anger.

I'm surprised to see Brandon holding Ethan, whispering something into the little boy's ear, something about things being alright, and I notice a red mark on Ethan's face, and the pain in his eyes as he looks at me.

I look away from both of them quickly, remembering the first time Jude and I where brought to a house. We were in a house of a couple that had just got married, they were pretty young too. The wife, I can't remember her name, but I remember that she still went to school to study for an extremely hard job.

Big Jason. That's what he told Jude and I too call him. He was very organized, and everything had to be done his way. I don't remember what his job was. Bit every time he'd come home from work, it was the same thing, say hello to his wife, sit down on the couch with a beer and watch tv for the next few hours.

It happened the first time I left Jude alone with Big Jason. We had been there for about three weeks. I had already begun to trust Big Jason. I trusted his wife, she was much more kinder than he was, but Big Jason had started to soften up too us.

Jude had gotten a stomach bug, but he brought me to school at promised that he would take care of Jude for me, I believed him, and went to school.

I walked home that day, since Big Jason didn't come to pick me up in his red truck, and I didn't mind, it was nice out that day. I remember opening the front door, only to see Big Jason, drunk, empty beer bottle in hand, towering over Jude, anger in his eyes. Jude was terrified, and so was I, but I couldn't move, I was frozen with shock. I watched Big Jason hit Jude across the face, and it echoed around the quite empty room.

Big Jason turned around to leave, probably to the living room to watch TV.

Jude was sobbing by the time I got to him, his small body doubling over, his hair clinging to his forehead with sweat. I pulled him against my body, and ran my fingers through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes. I whispered words in his ear, telling him that everything was going to be alright, and that I was here now. I whispered promises into his ear, promising him that things would get better.

I had let my hands wander from there, and traced his face, carefully looking for other marks put on his skin by Big Jason. Jude's eyes were full of so much pain that as soon as they met mine, I broke down in my own sobs, and he tried to comfort me, but I wouldn't let him. I put him to bed that night, and stayed with him, awake until he woke up the next morning.

Breaking down. That's what I feel like doing right now, with Ethan's pain mirroring Jude's the first time I saw him get hit. I felt like falling to my knees and let the ground tear my new jeans. I felt like sobbing and whisper comforting words into his ear, make him promises that everything will be better, but I didn't. Because I don't know that things will be better for Ethan. I didn't want to lie to him, just like I did with Jude.

I take a deep breath, and play with the the hem of my tank top before I say a word. "Why don't we get you cleaned up, Ethan."

I walk up to Brandon and Ethan, and take Ethan out of Brandon's arms. "It's gonna be okay, little guy." I hear Brandon tell Ethan as I bring him to the kitchen, and put him on the counter, turning on the lights.

I inspect the mark on Ethan carefully, not wanting to touch it. Sometimes, the stinging would be there for hours, it felt like somebody was stabbing you over and over again with a needle.

I can feel Brandon staring at us, and I can feel his anger too, but I ignore it. The anger is not directed towards me or Ethan.

When I do raise my hand to trace it gently, Ethan flinches away from my touch. _He's_ _scared of me_, I think. _This is what I looked like to people._

I swallow slowly, trying getting rid of the tightness in my throat. No luck. "I'm not going to hurt you, Ethan. Please trust me," I meant to say it, but it comes out more like pleading. I need Ethan to trust me, I've been in the same situations. "I'm going to get you an ice pack so it doesn't bruise, okay?"

Ethan nods silently, and I grab an ice pack from the freezer, and hand it to him, knowing that there was know way he was going to let my hand near his face.

Brandon speaks, startling me. "I turned the TV on, Ethan. Why don't you go watch some cartoons before bed?"

Ethan nods silently again, and I sigh as he goes to the living room. I look over at Brandon, who is still staring at me. "I'm sorry," He whispers, taking my hand slowly as if he's afraid that I'm going to pull away at his warm touch.

"Why?" I whisper, thankful that he is here, thankful that I can feel his body heat and hear his heart beating slowly.

"Because I brought him here," Brandon responds, his other hand running down my arm before he takes my other hand, pulling me towards him gently. "I should've thought about how it would affect you."

I close my eyes for a few minutes. "It reminded me of Jude," I mumble, shaking my head. "The first time I saw him get hit, Brandon."

"I'm sorry, Callie. I really am."

That's when I break down into Brandon's muscular arms, my body shaking with sobs. "I- I- I c-an't i-"

"Shh," Brandon says, running his fingers through my hair. "I know. It's okay, Callie. It's okay. I know."

So I give up on trying to explain to him, because he already knows. He knows that I won't be able to look at Ethan the same way I did when Brandon taught him the notes of the piano, or when he proudly announced that he remembered how to play the song they been working on that week. The only way I would be able to see him now is like me and Jude, and that's a horrible way to seem somebody.

It's not good to see somebody as a broken object that's been used.

My tears stain his shirt, but he doesn't say anything about it, he just holds me like I held Jude when he had a nightmare, or when we used to hide underneath his bed to escape our drunk foster father.

I feel his arms wrap around me tighter as I calm down slowly, then I feel his warm breath on my neck, and it feels so natural that it makes me relax even more. "I love you," I hear him whisper, kissing my neck softly. My hand wrap around his bicep, which only makes him kiss my neck again before he looks at me, resting his forehead against mine. "I love you. And I'm sorry for everything."

I close my eyes, my fingers traveling to his brown hair, not wanting to move away from our positions. "I love you, Brandon. And I kn-"

Ethan's small cracked voice makes us aware of our surroundings again.

"Is it okay if I go to bed?"

Brandon and I move from our position, and Brandon speaks. "Yeah, buddy, it's fine. Callie'll take you to your room and I'll get your bag, okay?"

Ethan follows me, and I can tell he's trying to keep his distance between us. I want to comfort him the way I used to comfort Jude, but I doubt he'll let me. He walks into the room, and climbs into bed.

"Uh, Brandon will be here in a minute." I offer him, not knowing what else to do.

Just as I finish, Brandon comes in, bag in hand. "Here you go. Good night, bud."

Both us walk out, closing the door quietly.

"What happened?" I ask, looking at Brandon.

"His dad is a freakin asshole. I mean, seriously give the kid a break. He's only nine."

"I thought Ethan was ten."

"Yeah, I thought that too. But anyways, Ethan dad comes to pick him up, and for once he looked happy, and asked him how old he was going to be today. He flipped when Ethan said eleven, started yelling at him that it's not okay to lie, and just as I was gonna tell him to walk away, he hit him and told Ethan that he can come home when he's ready to behave."

"He hit him because he lied about how old he was?"

Brandon nods. "Yeah, and I don't see the big deal, I mean every kid lies about their age at least once. I remember doing that, I told people I was ten when I was like eight or something. Moms found out, and I got a lecture from Lena, but Stef thought it was hilarious."

I really didn't care that Ethan lied. It's something everybody learns about. "He hit him?" I ask, still in shock that it's over something completely stupid.

Brandon doesn't answer at first, just wraps his arms around my waist. "Yeah, Callie, he did." He says softly.

I bury my head in his chest.


	14. Chapter 13

When I wake up, it's because I don't feel Brandon's body pressed to mine, or his arm around my waist. We went to bed soon after Ethan did, mostly because I wanted to go to bed and escape the memories that haven't been in my head for a long time.

Brandon comforted me, again, and muttered the same promises I told Jude in my ear, then told me it was best we went to bed, so listened to him.

When I notice that I can't feel him, my first instinct is to reach for the other side of the bed, but I can barely see his outline when I open my eyes. He's sitting up, and I can tell Ethan is in here.

"It's okay, Ethan," Brandon says groggily. "It was just a nightmare. We're here. You're fine."

The room is quite for a few minutes before Ethan answers, I can only imagine that it was terrible by the shaking of his voice. "C-Can I sleep here tonight? With you guys?"

Brandon was about to answer, but I rest my hand on his back, thinking of all the times I've been in a situation like this, expect it wasn't Ethan. It was Jude. By my third Foster house, I just shared a room with Jude. He nevered used his own anyways. "Hey, it's okay. Let him come."

Brandon faces me, and his green eyes seem even brighter in the dark, and I hear him sigh, then he pulls back the covers. "Yeah, Ethan. It's fine."

Ethan crawls in right between us, probably the warmest place in bed, and almost immediately falls asleep. I can't help but stare at Ethan, partly because I've been in this situation more than once, and it definitely wasn't a fun one.

Brandon didn't roll over and go back to sleep, instead, I can feel him staring at me, like he's afraid what my response will be. "Hey," He whispers, probably trying to stay quite in case Ethan is a light sleeper. "It'll be okay."

I nod, agreeing with him. "For us," I answer, looking away from Ethan. "But for Ethan?"

I hear Brandon sigh. "I know, I wonder why. Sometimes I just hate the people in this world, you know. They're always the ones complaining that the world is a terrible place, and they're the ones making it that way. It's so freaking stupid," Brandon pauses, like he doesn't what to go on, but I'm listening, and he continues. "I know you've had it worse than me, but it's horrible. Who would even want to think about hitting their own child?"

"It's the world. We can't change what happens to us, we can only change what will happen to us. Our own choices affect everything, just because you have a bad past, it doesn't mean you can't have a better future."

I can tell that Brandon smiles. "Words of wisdom."

"What?" I ask, slightly confused.

"You don't notice it, but you always say the best stuff, ya know? You're just one of those people who make it sound so natural, but what you say a literally help the world. You don't even think about it, it's just you. But it helps."

"So you're saying that I'm like some world changing person?"

"Well, you changed mine."

I fall asleep soon after that, and I probably slept hours, but it only felt like minutes when I wake up again, this time at a godly hour.

Ethan had woke up a few moments ago, and Brandon follows him, asking him what he wants for breakfast. I pull myself out of bed, knowing that I would have to face Ethan again no matter what today.

When I walk into the kitchen, the TV is on, and Ethan is staring at, and Brandon stands over the stove, watching the pan so carefully that he doesn't even notice me when I walk in.

"Cooking again?" I ask, causing him to jump.

"Yes, because I appear better at it than I thought I was. Nice shirt."

I look down at my shirt, and notice that I'm wearing his shirt. "I know, right? It's big on me."

"You look good in it," Brandon says, wrapping his arms around my waist, and I can feel his hot breath on my neck. "I'm sorry." He whispers.

"You don't have to feel bad,'' I answer, and he didn't. He was thinking about helping Ethan, and he shouldn't regret that he did just because of me, it would only make me feel bad, because he only wants to help. "Please stop saying sorry."

"But I am sorry," Brandon replies simply, pulling me closer. "I feel terrible that I brought him here, because every time I look at you now, you have the same look on your face the day you came here, and I feel like you don't trust me anymore."

"But I do trust you, Brandon. To be honest, you were the first person in a few years that I've been able to trust."

I can tell Brandon smiles. "So that's a good thi-" His phone starts ringing, and he groans, looking at me before he answers it. "Hello?" By his tone of voice, it was Ethan's dad, and I knew that this conversation would soon go down hill for here. I can here him speaking from the other side.

"I want to talk to Ethan."

I watchas Brandon free hand balls into a fist, and he inhales slowly. "I'm not going to let you talk to him, you bastard. "

Ethan dad keeps on talking, ignoring Brandons comment. "Ethan is my son, and I want to talk to him."

"Why? So you can yell at him again? Like the as-"

"I want to say sorry to him, Brandon. I'm sorry for hitting him." Ethan's dad voice still has no emotion whatsever, and I know Brandon is going to start yelling at him soon.

"You want me to belive that?" Brandon demands, shaking his head in dissapointment. "You hit a freaking nine year old, and kicked him out of your house just because he fucking lied! You're a dumbass, you know that right? Nobody should hit their kid just because he lied about his age!"

"I realized that now! I was just angry, kid! Okay? And I'm sorry. Let me talk to him, please! I just want to say I'm sorry! I don't care if you won't let see him, just let me say sorry, kid!"

"I'm not a kid! I'm pretty sure that Ethan doesn't want to talk to you, you know because your an ass to him! The least you can do is act like you care about him and be nice to him!"

"I would if you let me talk to him!"

Brandon sighs, and shakes his head again. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but why don't you come over and pick up your damn son like a real father?"

Ethan's dad comes over faster than I thought possible for him, but he can't meet my eyes. When his dad first got here, Ethan was terrified.

I feel his small hand tug at my shirt, and I look down at him, his blue eyes meeting mine. "I don't want to go home," Ethan whispers. "I want to stay here."

I bend down so I'm his height. "Ethan, he's your dad," I tell him, running my fingers through his hair. "Me and Brandon are going to make sure he doesn't hurt you again, I promise."

"But what about my sister?"

I don't answer right away, and I can hear Brandon talking to Ethan's dad in the living room. I didn't know Ethan had a sister. I didn't expect him to have one, but I thought about it. He probably treats Ethan's sister the same way he treats him. "We'll make sure he doesn't hurt her either, okay?"

Ethan nods, and I stand up, not wanting to look at him. I feel bad for him because of his dad, then he mentions his sister. It would be better if I didn't look at him anyways, but this time I feel him take my hand with his small one.

I lead Ethan into the living room, when Brandon is sitting on the couch, shaking his head. "You have a freaking daughter too? How old is she, Caleb?"

Caleb, who I was guessing is Ethan's dad, was sitting in the chair across from Brandon. "She's six months." He mumbles, looking at his feet.

I sit next to Brandon, who looks at me like, Can you believe this guy?

"Look, I only came here to take Ethan home, Brandon. I promise."

"What are you going to do the next time you have to go for a business trip? Who's gonna watch them?"

Caleb's mouth drops open before he answers carefully. "I- I don't know. I'll find somebody I know I can trust to watch them."

Brandon sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "Where is your daughter anyways?"

"She's at my neighbors house. I told him it was only going to be for an hour or two, so he agreed."

"I want to see Ethan in perfect shape when I see him on Monday," Brandon says, looking over at Ethan. "Ready to go home, bud?"

* * *

A few hours later, Brandon has his arm wrapped around me tightly as we walk back to our car. Ever since Brandon came home with Ethan, he's been more careful with what he says, but I don't find a point in it.

I still feel bad for Ethan. To be honest, I would rather have him still be with us. I can tell that Brandon thinks the same thing, especially at the fact that Brandon completely hates Caleb now. Both of us feel bad for Ethan, and of that's a good thing, I don't know. We could end up taking care of him and his sister in the future.

Brandon seemed to pull me even closer to him if that was possible. "Brandon, I'm fin-"

"What is he doing here?" Brandon spits out, like every word is venom. First Caleb and Ethan, now Liam making his way towards us, Brandon was bound to snap at Liam any minute.

"Just ignore him," I mutter, pushing Brandon towards our car. "It'll be fine if you ignore him, Brandon. Okay?"

"Hey!" Liam greets cheerfully, holding his arms out. "Isn't it my two favorite people!"

By the look on Liam's face, he was angry about something, just like Brandon was. And I'm going to be in the middle of it.

"What are you doing here?" Brandon spits out, trying to contain his anger.

"I'm here to talk to Callie! You know, about her ruining my life, and making Sarah move to a different foster house!"

"Oh, I wonder why? Maybe it's because you're a bastard and can't keep your filthy hands to yourself."

Liam grabs my wrist suddenly. "Hey, stay out of it, lover boy."

"Liam," I mutter, not able to meet his eyes. "You're hurting me."

At my words, Brandon snaps, and he shoves Liam away from me roughly. "Stay away from her. She did nothing to you."

Liam just shoves Brandon back, "I said stay out if it, dumbass! None of this is your business!"

Brandon is the first one to throw a punch, making Liam stumble. Liam seems slightly confused at the fact that Brandon even punched him, but it's quickly covered with anger. The next thing I know is that they're on the ground, one minute Liam seems to have control, then the next Brandon does. Being the idiot I am, I just stand there and watch as they punch and elbow each other.

I couldn't move, partly because I didn't know what to do to make them stop, and partly because I was scared. Liam is a very powerful person, not with his physical strength, but with what he does. The fact that Brandon is able to easily overpower him scares me. Most people wouldn't even think about getting a fight with Liam, and Brandon just goes ahead and starts one. But I have to do something, before both of them get hurt.

It wouldn't matter. Both of them are hurt. I can tell by the way that they are moving. Slower now, heavier breathing. Brandon is on top of Liam, getting ready to punch him. "Stop it! Both of you!" Brandon ignores me, and I rest my hand on his arm, and his muscle relax. The coldness in his eyes disappear, and they immediately start showing concern. "Stop it. I'm fine, Brandon." I can barely hear my own voice.

"Callie, I-" Brandon is suddenly off of Liam, taking a step towards me, but I take a step back. I shouldn't be near either of them.

"No, Brandon. F-Forget it. I'm fine."

Brandon wipes away blood from his lips, and looks down at his shoes, shaking his head, muttering something to himself. He feels bad. "A-at least let me drive you home. Please?" I know it's more for him than for me. He wants to make sure I'm safe.

"No, I'm fine. You can drive home."

"But I-"

"Brandon! I'm fine! Go home!" I tell him, not able to meet his eyes.

Brandon gives up, and walks away, leaving me and Liam alone. I thought about yelling at Liam, but that would only make matters worse than they already were. So I walk away in the opposite direction, away from Liam and Brandon. I decided it would be better if I did walk home. Brandon needed some space.

When I do get home, it's completely quite. I can tell Brandon was already here though, the way his sneakers littered the apartment.

I go to our room, only to find Brandon sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at nothing. He took off his shirt, and probably threw it across the room, since it was at my feet. Even though the room was dark, his back to me, I could tell he was covered in bruises.

"Brandon?" He doesn't respond, just shakes his head, and mutters something to himself. I go to the bathroom and get a damp cloth, just in case he needed it. I make my way towards him, and I bend down in front of him, looking at him, noticing his busted lip that was covered in dried blood and his black eye. "Are you okay?" It was an stupid question to ask him, but it was the only thing that came to my mind.

Brandon shrugs, and doesn't meet my eyes, his hands still balled into fists. "You were scared of me," He whispers, shaking his head. "I scared you."

I take his hand, noticing that his knuckles where bleeding, and start cleaning it, not able to say anything. Because he is right. I was scared of him. And I feel horrible because now he's going to think it's all his fault, and he's going to think it's better if he ignores me, but that's not the case.

"I'm sorry," He whispers, pulling his hand away from mine. "Cals, I'm sorry. I should've just walked away, but I didn't. And you're scared of me. First Ethan, now Liam. I'm sorry."

I bite my lip, and take his other hand quietly. But he's staring at me sadly, thinking that this all of his fault, but it's not. I just don't know how to tell him that.

"Callie," Brandon starts, taking his hand away from mine again, like his afraid that he's going to hurt me, I know he is. But I'm not scared of him. I was just surprised by his actions. He was usually sweet and gentle. I didn't expect him to snap like that. "I don't want to hurt you. I know you're scared of me."

I look up at him, trying my best to not mention his bruises. If I do, he's only going to be upset that I'm more concerned about him when he's worrying about me. "I'm not scared of you." I tell him.

"I'm just going to hurt you, Callie."

I've never seen Brandon this upset about something. He keeps saying the same thing to me, and it's just making me feel even worse. "You're not going to hurt me," I whisper. "You want to know how I know that? Because that's who you are. I know that you would never hurt me."

"But you were scared of me."

"I'm not scared of you, Brandon," I whisper, hoping he'd believe me. I wasn't scared of him. "I love you, Brandon. What happened today isn't going to change that."

Brandon starts to complain, but I crash my lips to his, knowing it would be the only way to make he be quite about it. My actions surprise Brandon, but he responds by pulling me closer to him, but he's still trying to mumble something.

Brandon gives up on talking, kissing me roughly, leaving me breathless when he pulls away, his forehead resting on mine, "Brandon." I whisper, I didn't mean to sound so desperate when I say it, but he's already kissing me again with such force and desperation I've never felt before.

"I love you." He mumbles, as my fingers find his hair, almost keeping him from pulling away from me.

"I know," I tell him, then I'm suddenly on my back, his head dipping to my neck. My fingers travel to his chest, and he pulls away.

"Jesus Christ."

I'm suddenly concerned, and Brandon notices, because brushes his lips against mine softly. "It's nothing," Looking at my expression, he knows I don't believe him. "I promise."

I was going to point out that it clearly bothered him, but he kisses me roughly, biting my lower lip before trailing to my jawline, making me moan. My hands travel down his back, his skin much warmer than mine. Brandon suddenly stops, looking at me.

"Do we have to go to school tomorrow?"


	15. Chapter 14

Kids were staring at us again. Well, not at me, they were staring at Brandon and his black eye, and the way he limps or the way he groans in pain when they accidentally run into him. The fight was a lot worse then I let on. Even as he walks towards me, limping stiffly, I could tell that Brandon's forehead was beaded with sweat, his hair clinging to it. He has his hands balled into fists tightly, them caked with blood again, his lip was the only bruised part of him that seemed not to bother him.

"Brandon, I should take you home." I tell him softly, careful not to touch him. Even though he had stop limping when he came up too me, it was clear that he was still in pain. His green eyes meet mine, and they seem to plead me to take him home, even though that's not what he tells me.

"No," He tells me through gritted teeth, running his fingers through his hair. "I'm fine, I'm just a little sore. I promise. Some poor freshman are scared of me, he ran into me and scampered in the other direction like I was ready to kill him after he ran into me."

I nod, biting my lip. Brandon would never let me take him home, no matter how much he needed it. It was clear that he should be at home, but it's Brandon. There's no way that I could change his mind. "Are you okay?" He asks, licking his lips, probably at the fact that it started bleeding again. I notice that his skin was white, paper white, like he seen a ghost.

"Yeah," I tell him, turning around to put my science textbook into my locker and grab my history textbook. I want to tell him that I'm worried about him, but at the same time, I can't, knowing Brandon, he'd feel like it's his fault. "Yeah, I'm fine it's nothing."

Brandon wraps his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder. "Cals, I'm fine. I promise. Okay? We only have three more classes. I'll be fine," I nod, hoping he was right, but I still feel like that I should be taking him home, or at least take him to Lena. I felt bad that we're keeping this from Stef and Lena. It's only going to make things with them even worse. "I'll see you next period, okay?"

I can only nod.

* * *

The bell rings, saving me from my boredom of the most boring class in Anchor Beach. History with . He was an old man who seems to never blinks and always has two types of coffee with him on his desk. I grab my backpack off the floor, and quickly go into the hallway full of kids, only to be greeted by Mariana.

"Hey, Callie!"

I turn around to face her. She didn't have her usually happy and preppy mood that she always carried around with her, and I know that something is bothering her, or something happened in The Fosters household since the last time Brandon and I have seen them. I know a lot has happened with Brandon and I. I can barely go five minutes without worrying about him today. "Yeah? What's up?"

"What's wrong with Brandon?" She asks. "I tried talking to him earlier on today, but he wouldn't look at me, and he has shades on. I've seen a few times in the hallways today, He's been limping and he's white as a sheet of paper."

"You've tried talking to him? Mariana, did you see kids bump into him?"

"Only a few. Most of them were on accident, though, they be goofing off with their friends or something, but sometimes some kids ran into him on purpose, like they knew it was going to hurt him. It only happen before sixth period."

That's why he looked worse before this class when he saw me. He looked better earlier on in the day, but he looked worse the last time I saw him. I scan the crowd looking for him, not even bothering to explain to Mariana that her brother had gotten into a fight yesterday.

"Um, hello Callie? I'm over here, you know."

"Have you seen Brandon before you came here?" I demand.

Mariana shrugs, shaking her head. "No, I haven't."

"This isn't good." I mutter to myself. Brandon just finished with P.E, which probably has wiped him out, only making our problem worse. He already looked bad before P.E, and I don't plan on seeing how he looks now.

"What's not good?" Mariana demands, grabbing my arm. "What happened to Brandon? Do we need to take him to the hospital?" I ignore her and look around the nearly empty hallways even though it's useless. Brandon isn't here.

"We need to find him," I tell Mariana. "Like right now, we have to find him." I could imagine Brandon walking around the always, almost unconscious. It would be all my fault, for one, It was my idea that we'd go out and get some air yesterday, and two, I didn't stop the fight fast enough.

Mariana is close behind me when I walk down the hallway, towards the sophomore boys locker room, only to see Brandon stumble out, almost falling to his knees. "Hey, Cals," He says, looking at me and Mariana. "Hi Mariana. Don't do P.E when you feel horrible."

He looks much worse than the last time I was him. His face is covered in sweat, and something tells me it's not because he just finished running around for an hour and an half, it's from feeling horrible. His skin is whiter too, and he can't even hide his limp anymore. "You two are going to be late for class," He informs us, tripping over his own foot, and Mariana and I both catch him, which is a good thing because he might've fell on his face and break his nose if it wasn't for us. "You get going before you get in trouble." He says slowly, ignoring the fact that he almost broke his nose. I wasn't going to tell him that he didn't make that much sense.

"Is he high or something?" Mariana demands, and I shake my head.

"No, he's not high, what do you think he is, an idiot?"

"Well, I just thought that maybe he is beca-"

"No," Brandon pipes in, looking up at us. "I'm not high, no. I'd never do that. I tend to be smarter than people think I am. I'm drunk, Mariana. Tell the differn-"

Neither of us cut off Brandon, but he suddenly passes out. "Oh my god." I hear Mariana mutter, but I pull him up, and put his arm around my neck, knowing it was the only way we'd have a chance at moving him. He's heavy.

"Come on, Mariana. Help me. We have to get him to the hospital!"

"No," Brandon mumbles as Mariana supports his other side. "I.. I'm fine... no hospital. School. Good. Good is school. School is good. Mom is here."

"Maybe we should take him to Lena, Callie."

I shake my head, probably more violently than I need too. Lena would kill all three of us. Then she'd bring us back from the dead so Stef can kill all three of us. Lena would be very disappointed that Brandon got into a fight. Then she'd be disappointed that I didn't take care of him or called her and Stef, instead I just cleaned the cuts on his hand and made out with him. Yeah, that was certainly going to help me get on her good side. But if Stef found out, it be ten times worse, she'd be furious at us.

"I want to see mom. And Callie. I have to tell her I'm sorry for messing up her adoption."

Mariana looks over at me, and I shrug it off. "Well, we can't go take him to Lena. She'd be upset. We can't take him to Stef either, she'd kill us. He'll be upset if we take him to the hospital. Where are we going to take him?"

"We take him to Moms house. It's a perfect idea, mom has to do some extra hours this week for her shift, and Mom has to stay over school and do paperwork after school, and Jude and Jesus will have to walk home. We'll have at least three hours to find out what's wrong with him."

"He got into a fight," I tell Mariana, looking at the floor. "With Liam."

We did take him back to the fosters, and on the way home, I explained to Mariana what happened last weekend, including Ethan and his dad, then about Liam and how I was scared of Brandon for a few moments while I was him fight Liam, and how he noticed and blamed himself. It takes Mariana a few minutes to open the front door, but we finally get into the house, covered in sweat.

"Come on, we still have to get him on the couch," I say, already pulling him in that direction. Mariana literally shoves him onto to couch, and I smile. "Mission accomplished. I think that was easier than trying to get you to walk home from Wyatt's party when you got drunk."

Mariana laughs, "Yeah, that was pretty bad, wasn't it? I still feel bad that I dragged you into that."

Both of us look down at Brandon as he lets out a groan of pain, his eyes were still closed. Mariana looks over at me. "Maybe we should take him to the hospital, you know. He's looking worse. It just be better if we take him."

"Go get water." I command, already unzipping his sweatshirt and ease it off of him, which only causes him to groan in pain again, grabbing my wrist, his hand clammy and cold.

"Cals..." He whispers weakly, shivering even though it was almost ninety degrees outside. "I-I'm sorry. For... Ruining your adoption. I'm sorry. For everything. I-I feel like that ever since I kissed you, I've been ruining your life." He starts to sit up, but I gently push him back onto the cushions.

"You need to stay here, don't move, okay? You need to rest, You got hurt worse than I thought," I tell him, fighting back my tears. He hasn't been ruining my life, I've been ruining his. Because of me, he was here, ranting about the exactly same thing each time he talks. "Does anything hurt?" I ask him, pushing the hair out of his eyes, ignoring his sweat forehead.

Brandon's breathing hitches, and he gasps. "My chest," He mumbles, his eyes closing. "And my head."

Mariana comes back in to the room with a cup of water. "Uh, Callie, change of plans."

"What?"

"As it turns out, moms are actually coming home early." I look back at Brandon, but he's already passed out. Again.

"We're screwed. I'm screwed. This is bad. Stef is gonna h-"

"Callie, calm down. It's not that bad."

"Uh-uh, Tell that to moms that I brought their beat up son home because I don't know what to do with him, and Stef hates me."

"Stef loves you, Callie. She's just upset that you aren't getting adopted. Stef could never hate you."

"Sure seems like that. I me-"

The front door opens, and Stef walks in, only to find me and Mariana staring at her, Brandon unconscious on the couch. Stef cold, hard stare is the same one the day I first met her, but it seems different this time, because the first time I was it, it was before she knew me. But now she knows who I am, and it's full of disappointment, no matter what I choose to do these days.

"What's wrong with Brandon?" She demands, and when either of us answer her, she sighs, and pushes past us, basically ripping off his shirt and ignoring his groans of pain.

Stef doesn't seem surprised when she sees his body covered in bruises. I guess that she already expected it. She's a cop, she's probably seen a lot worse as her job as a cop. I expected Stef voice to be angry when she speaks, but it's nothing but comforting. "What happened to him, honey?"

I look at my worn out sneakers, ashamed. I couldn't bring myself to answer Stef, considering the fact the last time I've answered her question, it resulted in both of us yelling at each other. I can feel her and Mariana looking at me, so I finally mutter to Stef. "He got in a fight with Liam."

I didn't expect her to hear me, but she does, and I look up at her. "When did this happen?"

"Last night. I should've called you, Stef. He seemed fine last night, so we just came to school today, and I thought he'd be fine, you know. It was stupid, I know. He passed out at school when Mariana was with me, so we just brought him because I didn't know what to do," I say, pausing, the sight of Brandon on the couch and Stef hovering over him seemed to familiar, but I don't know where it's coming from. My hands starts to sweat, and I wipe them on my jeans, "I'm sorry, Stef. For everything. I feel like that everything that I do is going to ruin everybody's life, and I'm ruining yours. I've should've just stayed in juvie or something and refused to let Lena take me here. I-"

Stef suddenly cuts me off. "Callie, take a deep breath," I haven't noticed that I started ranting, and I was no where close to done when she cut me off. I take a deep breath, and Stef looks at Mariana. "Watch your brother while I talk to Callie, okay?"

Stef doesn't listen for Mariana response, just rests her hand on my shoulder and leads me too the kitchen. We stand there quietly for a few minutes until Stef starts talking again. "You think that you've ruined my life?"

I can barely hear her, and I know I made a mistake saying that to her, but I can feel tears threating to spill, so I start talking. "Because I have, Stef, I have ruined your life. That's what I'm so afraid of sometimes, everybody I care about gets hurt and I have no control over it. I have ruined your life, you just can't see it. An-"

"How have you ruined my life?" Stef asks.

"I-I don't know. I'm just so used to having people telling me that I'm a mistake and that everything I has done nothing but ruin their lives and now Brandon getting hurt because of me, it's true Stef. I'm just a mistake. I don't know where I belong. Maybe that's the way it should be. Sometimes I feel like I don't belong here, and I hate it. It's the worse thing in to world. It's like drowning and I feel completely, utterly alone and I can't breath, no matter what I did. That changed when I came here, and now I know why. It's because you've helped me with my mistakes and you don't realize it. The only reason why Ana became such a big problem is because I didn't tell you that Mariana was selling the pills. I could have told you, I saw her take them the first night I was here a-"

Stef cuts me off again shaking her head. "Sit down before you pass out, Callie," I listen to her, and sit down. "You are not a mistake, Callie. Never think that, okay? You're my daughter, Callie. Nothing is going to change the fact that I see you that way. I overrated about you not getting adopted, and it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life, sweetheart. A signed pice of paper should not have to show that you're my daughter, okay? I was being stupid, and you're right, Callie." I look over at her, confused, and she gives me a smile. "You have changed my life. In a good way, though. You taught me things that nobody else could have ever taught me. I'm proud of you, Callie. I really am."

I can only nod, "But what about Brandon?"

Stef suddenly leaves me in the kitchen alone, probably checking up on him. When I go back to the living room, he's struggling against Stef to get up. "Let me see Callie," He says weakly, only looking a little better. "I want to make sure she's okay. I want to tell her sorry. For ruining her adoption a-"

"Hey," I tell him, grabbing his hand, thankful that it wasn't cold anymore, but it was warm like it usually was. "I'm okay. I'm right here. See, I'm fine."

His green eyes meet mine, and he nods suddenly, and stops struggling. "I'm still sorry," He whispers, his voice raspy, resting his forehead on mine. "For ruining everything, Cals. I'm so sorry," Even though Stef is right there, he kisses me. "Will you lay with me?"


	16. Chapter 15

I lay with Brandon on the couch, my arms wrapped tightly around his neck, his arms had found their way around me without causing himself pain. He had fell asleep a few minutes ago, his breathing slow and warm against my neck. He was told to take off his shirt, seeing that it was soaked in his sweat.

I had looked over at Stef, almost asking for her permission when he asked me to lay with him, but Brandon had already pulled me onto the couch next to him, automatically wrapping his arms around my waist, whispering another I'm sorry into my ear. I whispered it back to him, and it was true. I can barely look at his bare chest and think that I'm the reason he has bruises all over his body. An hour before he fell asleep, we just laid there, listening to each other heartbeats, and I could feel the rest of his body slowly gain back it's normal temperature, and his skin regained it's normal color.

I close my eyes, listening to the sounds of the house. Jude and Jesus had gotten home right before Brandon fell asleep. The sounds were so natural, I'm so used to them. Jesus and Mariana are bickering in the kitchen, Jude is probably there too, doing his homework.

I feel Brandon's grip on me tighten, and then relax a little as he lets out a relieved sigh. He's still out like a light. Sleep is probably exactly what Brandon needed, and it seemed to help him a lot. I hear the front door open again, knowing that Lena was home. I could tell that she didn't see us, by the way she just simply shouted that she is home.

I hear footsteps come towards me, but I ignore them, but Jude comes into my sight. "Is Brandon going to be okay?" He asks awkwardly, playing with his hands. "What did Liam want?" It barely comes out as a whisper.

"Brandon is going to be fine," I answer, not wanting to talk about Liam with Jude, but I know that I have too, now that he's standing in front of me, waiting for an answer. "I don't know want he wanted, Jude. Just forget about it, okay?"

Jude shakes his head. "Why should I? He could have hurt you, Callie! Then people be wondering what the hell they'd do because you got hurt, Callie."

"But Brandon got hurt," I choke out, not able to meet Jude's eyes. "Everybody gets hurt because of me. I would rather have him hurt me, Jude. Because it's not anybody else's problem."

"Callie, we finally have people who care about us," Jude whispers, his eyes landing on Brandon, eyebrows furrowed together "We have a family now. Don't just throw it all away because you're afraid that they're going to get hurt. Everybody hurts."

I take a deep breath. Jude is right, we do have a family now, that was the whole point in everything I've done for him, right? To find a family and be happy. I can't just throw it all away like I want to because I'm afraid of what will happen to them. "You're right."

"What?" Jude asks, surprised. He probably expected me to fight against his reasons like I normally do, but he's right. What's the point of fighting against it if I know he's right. "I'm right? I thought that maybe you'd s-"

"You're right," I repeat. "You're right, Jude. We do have a family, Jude. We finally have the thing that we've needed for a long time, a family. Why throw it away when they actually want us and care about us? You're right, everybody gets hurt, Jude. Everybody hurts. It's just the way life is. I-"

Jude smiles at me, happy that I finally seem to understand what he's been telling me for the past six years. "Callie, we have a family! They're here to help us when we need it! All of 'em, Cals. We have a chance to be happy. You want to be happy! I don't care if you want to be with Brandon, you're finally doing something for your self, Callie. This is great! Everything you do is for other people, t-"

"Jude?"

"Yeah?"

"Breathe before you pass out on the floor," I tell him, and he takes a deep breath. Jude doesn't realize it, but everything that has happened to me, I might have not seemed happy, but I was, so how, in some way. "I was never unhappy, Jude. It probably has seem that way, but Jude, if anything, I was happy with just you. I really was. If anything, you're the only reason why I did anything. If it was just me, I'd still be in an abusive house, Jude. You're my happiness, Jude."

Jude nods, suddenly quite. "Yeah, Yeah. I'll be right back. You're staying for dinner?"

"If you want me too."

"Of course I do. I'll be right back, I promise."

Jude runs out of the living room, only to come back a few seconds later. "Dinner is almost ready, so..."

"I've got this. I'll wake up Brandon."

Jude nods, and walks away, muttering something about having to finish his homework, leaving me alone with Brandon. I look at him, not wanting to wake him up, he clearly needed sleep. I sigh, and shake his shoulder gently. "Come on, Brandon. Wake up. Stef and Lena are cooking us dinner."

Unlike the last time when it took me about thirty minutes to wake him up, Brandon wakes up almost immediately. "I wanna stay here," He whispers groggily. "I'm not hungry."

"Brandon, I think it'll be good for you to get some food," I tell him. "You don't have to eat everything, okay?"

Brandon nods, wrapping his arms around me tighter. "But not right now. I'm sorry."

My heart drops. The only thing that he's been saying to me for the past three days is I'm sorry. "For what?" I ask, remembering what he said about my adoption.

"For everything," He mumbles into my neck. "For Ethan. For Liam. For kissing you. I ruined your adoption, I'd thought that maybe you'd hate me from keeping you from having a family. I ruined your adoption, Callie. And you still tell me you love me."

"Because I do love you, Brandon. If I get adopted or not, I love you, okay? What happened with Liam doesn't change that. Ethan doesn't change that, okay?"

"Okay." He says softly, then shivers.

"I'm going to get you a new shirt."

"Wha- I don't need one, I'm fine. I'll get it myself."

I ignore him, and get up from the couch. "I'm getting you a new shirt," I say, already going up the stairs to his room. "Then you're going to eat dinner."

I hear Brandon groan. "I'm not hungry!" He calls.

"That's a first." I mutter to myself, already grabbing a t-shirt, I turn around, only to see him standing in the doorway, leaning against the door frame. His arms are crossed, and he's staring at me, but all I can notice is how bad he looks, no matter what he says.

"I'm okay," He mumbles, taking the shirt out of my hands, his eyes meeting mine. "I promise." I can only nod, and look away from him, not wanting to look at the bruises on him. Suddenly his lips are on mine fast and hard, pulling me towards him. His own actions make him wince with pain, but he ignores it, kissing me harder. "I love you." He mumbles as my fingers find his hair. Lena calls, telling everybody it's time for dinner, but we ignore her as my back gets pressed against the door.

Lena calls for us again, and her voice seems even closer than it was before, and he pulls away. "I believe that what I said earlier is not true," Brandon says. "I'm starving."

I laugh, and pick up the short he dropped, and throw it at him. "Well, what are you still doing up here?"

"I came to talk to you, and dinner is ready. So what are you still doing up here?" I shrug, and Brandon grabs my hand, and pulls me down the stairs to the kitchen happily.

"Hey, look, they finally decided to join us," Jesus says, grabbing a plate. "Were you two having fun?" Brandon holds my hand tighter as I blush.

"Jesus!" Stef and Lena say, shaking their heads at him. "That is not okay!"

"Wh- It's just a simple question!" He says, defending himself. "I don't understand what is so wrong about the qu-"

"I want to keep my appetite," Mariana says, sitting down next to Jude. "This conversation is not going to help me keep it."

Mariana comment causes all of us to laugh.

* * *

We decided to watch a movie too. Dinner, unlike last time, was completely normal, well, what we consider normal for our house hold. Mariana wanted to watch _The Notebook_. Jesus and Jude wanted to watch _Iron Man 3._ Stef and Lena wanted to watch the _Lone Ranger_. (The one with Johnny Depp.) So naturally, they agreed to let Brandon and I choose since we are their 'guests'. Deciding that we haven't watched Disney in a long time, we picked _Frozen_.

We're at the part when Elsa sings _Let It Go_, when Jude announces that we are out of popcorn. He gets up to get more, and looks at. "Come with?" He asks me, grabbing the other bowl from Lena.

"Why not?" I get up, still watching the movie. Then turn my attention to Jude and follow him to the kitchen. I watch him carefully as he stiffly grabs two bags of popcorn from the pantry, and slams the microwave shut when he's done getting them. "What's wrong?" I ask, and he shrugs simply, brushing me off. "Jude, if you're going to act like nothing wrong, it's not going to work."

Jude sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, leaning against the counter. "I've been thinking about what you said earlier, when we were talking about having a family, Cals. And I realized that the only reason why I have one is because of everything you've gone through because of me," He says, shaking his head. "And you don't realize it, but you're still giving up everything for me. I haven't talked to Stef and Lena 'bout it b-"

I'm shaking my head at him, why would he want to do this? It's his family. His forever family. The people who will care about and love him no matter what he does or who he is. "No, Jude," I say, barely able to hear my own voice. "You are not getting rid of this. Not for me. Not for the world, okay? This. These people, Jude they are family. Don't get rid of it for me, Jude. Never do something like this for me Jude, please, just don't." I'm pleading to him by now, tears threatening to spill.

"Why not, Callie?" He demands, throwing his hands in the air as if to show his anger. "I can't give up one thing for you after you gave up everything for me? I don't want you to do that for me anymore, Callie! I hate doing this to you, I really do! I take away everything from you, and y- you go around acting like it's all okay and that it doesn't bother you, but it should, Cals. It should!"

"I didn't give up everything for you, J-"

"That's bull, Callie! You've gone to juvie because of me! You let people abuse you instead of me! You'd stay home from school to make sure I was safe when I got sick. I'm the reason why there's scars on you! I'm the reason why you don't like certain things because of everything thing I've done, you taken the fall for me!"

"Ju-"

"You'd stay up with me if I had nightmares. You were locked in a basement with no food for days because of me," He whispers, tears falling down his face. I know I should be comforting him, but I don't know how. "You don't like crackers because I was hungry once. You have a scar on your stomach because I got to close to one of our foster fathers when he was drunk. You hate dog cages because that man put you in one. You're scared of thunderstorms. You're usually scared of most boys when you first meet them. Callie, all of these things are because of me."

The microwave beeps, and I take the bag out, not knowing what to say. "Jude," I finally say, turning around to face him. "What else was I supposed to do? Let you end up in the hospital? Starve to death? Sit in a metal cage for hour at a time? You're so young, you shouldn't have to go through any of what I did."

"I'm not getting adopted," He says firmly. "Not next week like we decided. I'm not getting adopted until you do. If it's with The Fosters or somebody else, I'm not getting adopted without you, Callie. I've already made my choice. I'm going to talk about it with Stef and Lena tomorrow before school."

He grabs a bowl of popcorn like nothin happened and goes back into the living room, to watch the rest of the movie.

* * *

I was quite during the rest of the movie. I was quite on the walk home with Brandon. And I'm quite now, walking through the halls of school holding Brandon's hand tightly. He hasn't make many comments on it, but I can tell that it's bothering that I've said nearly next to nothing to him.

"Are you okay?" He asks, running his hand through my hair. "That's a stupid question. What's bothering you?"

"Nothing," I answer, and Brandon raises an eyebrow, and I just completely break down. "Jude doesn't want to get adopted anymore! I-It's all my fault! I... I'm such an idiot!"

"How in the world are you an idiot?"

"He... He won't get adopted because of me! I knew I shouldn't have kissed you." I want to take the words back as soon as they escape my mouth.

"Then it's my fault, too," Brandon says coldly, letting go of my hand. "Maybe I shouldn't have gone after you, since you clearly needed Wyatt so much."

"Brandon," I say weakly, shaking my head. "I- I didn't mean it like that. I really didn't. I-"

"You regret kissing me, Callie. What else do you regret? Having sex with me too?"

"No! I didn't mean it like that, Brandon!"

"Sure as hell seems like it, Callie! I'm sorry if I'm not good enough for you, I try my best!"

"Brandon, I-"

"Save it! I don't want to hear it! Why don't you just go back to Wyatt since you're missing him so much!" Brandon shakes his head at me like he's disgusted, which he probably is. I'd be disgusted if I was him too. "I think we need to take a break." He walks away, not bothering to see what my response is.

I walk down the hallway, ignoring the kids staring at me, wiping away the tears. He's right. We do need to take a break. I feel pain and anger, but mostly pain. I need a family more than a boyfriend anyways. When I get to Lena's office, the door is open, and I can hear Stef talking.

"I just don't understand, Lena. We seem to be losing all of them these days. Callie and Brandon living on their own, Jesus acting less and less like himself, and now Jude doesn't want to get adopted anymore. I just don't get it."

I knock on the door, even though it's open, and act like I didn't hear anything. "Oh, sorry," I say, Stef and Lena looking at me. "I can come back later."

"No, honey, it's okay. What do you need?" I step into the office and close the door behind me.

"I need to talk to both of you."

Stef has a look of shock on her face. "Are you p-"

I cut her off, not even wanting to hear anything that could be related to him. "No!" I say, probably too quickly, and I sigh and run my fingers through my hair before going on. "Jude talked to me last night before telling you guys, and... It made me realize that I need an family a lot more than a boyfriend... I was wondering if I can still get adopted?"

Their mouths drop to the floor.


	17. Chapter 16

Stef and Lena are still staring at me, their mouths still hung open in shock. It has gotten to the point where it was making me uncomfortable. I look down at my shoes awkwardly, and point towards the door with my thumb. "I,uh, I'll go now, s-"

"No, honey, it's okay," Stef says, getting over her shock first, and gestures to the chair next to her. "Come sit down, Callie."

I sit down in the chair next to Stef, and they are still staring at me, and I start to feel like they're going to tell me that they won't adopt me. "I-if you don't, i-it's okay... I understand."

"Of course we want to adopt you, Callie!" Lena says, finally getting over her shock. "We just want to make sure that you're thinking this through, Callie. Because once you get adopted, y-"

"Can't date Brandon," I say coldly, nodding my head. "I know that. We talked about it last night. He understands." I lie. I don't know what Brandon response will be to any of this. Maybe it'd make him even angrier, making this easier for me.

"Are you sure?" Stef asks, looking at me like she's afraid that I'm going to change my answer by the time the adoption goes through, but I'm sure of it. I want to part of this family. Officially.

"Yes, I'm sure. The past few days, I've been thinking that it would be better, you know? As stupid as it sounds, I-"

"I better call Jude down here," Lena says, already picking up the phone, probably to call his teacher. "He's going to be so happy."

Jude comes in about five minutes later, and when he sees me, he automatically starts talking. "Whatever you think she did, she didn't do i-"

Stef cuts him off. "Relax, Jude. Callie didn't do anything. It's okay. We actually need to talk to you, Jude. Come here."

I stand up from my chair. "You can sit here." Jude looks at me, like he's trying to tell me something.

"I don't need to take you chair," Jude tells me. "You sit there." So I sit back down, and Jude stands next to me, looking at Lena.

"Jude, we know you told us that you didn't want to get adopted with out

Callie, but it seems that she is getting adopted."

Jude looks at me. "You are? Really? What about Brandon?"

I don't answer right away, but Jude is waiting for an answer, so I speak. "Need a family more than a boyfriend," I tell him, and he raises his eyebrow questionably. "I already talked about it to Brandon, Jude."

Jude nods, a huge smile creeping onto his face. "We're gonna have a family!" He says happily, wrapping his arms around me. "A real family, Cals. Both of us!"

"Do you know what this means?" I hear Stef ask, and footsteps. "Mama sandwich!" I feel Stef arms wrap around us, then Lena's, and I can understand why Jude likes it here so much. To be honest, it was the first time I've ever hugged either of them, and all I feel is love and caring.

After a few minutes, Lena writes us passes, telling us to go back to class. We had just got out of the office when Jude stops me. "What happened?" He demands.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I tell him, not wanting to tell him what happened. It's only going to make him feel bad. "Nothing happened, Jude."

"That's bull. Last night you were so happy with Brandon, I doubt that you talked to him about this. He probably doesn't even know that you decided that you'll get adopted by Stef and Lena."

"It would be better, okay? It'll make this easier for me, Jude! I know I need a family, and the only way is to break up with Brandon, because these are the only people who given me a chance!"

"I didn't want you to break up with Brandon for me! I know you're only doing this for me, Callie. You think it'll be better if you do, but what about Brandon?"

"What about him?"

"Do you like suddenly hate him or something? Did he hurt you? Did you get into a fight?"

"None of this is your business, Jude!"

"Yes it is! I didn't ask you to give up anything for me, Callie! You're giving up Brandon! Why would you do something so stupid? I know you love him!"

"You told me to find a family, Jude! You told me to do what makes me happy! If you haven't notice, Stef and Lena make me happy! Mariana and Jesus makes me happy! You make me happy! They're the only family I have, Jude! They're the only people in the world I'll ever be able to see as a family!"

Jude shakes his head. "You're still giving up Brandon, Callie! You're still giving up something because of me!"

"I don't need Brandon!"

Jude turns around, and walks to his class, and I turn around, only to find Brandon staring at me, his hands balled into fists, his expression giving it all away, letting me know he heard every single word I've said, and it breaks my heart when he starts down the hallway, shaking his head, and I'm going after him.

"Brandon!" He doesn't answer me, and I call his name again. "Brandon! I-"

"What the hell do you want?" He growls, turning around to face me suddenly, pain in his eyes. "Come to tell me you're sorry? Well, that's bullshit, Callie!"

"I am sorry! I-"

"Just didn't have the heart to tell me that you don't care about me? That I'm just some fucking toy that you can come to when you need me? Here's a new flash, Callie, I'm a normal person! I have feelings too! I tried my best, you know! I'm sorry that I'm nothing to you! Must be an embarrassment when I talk to you, right?"

"Well, maybe of you'd jus listen to me for once, Brandon! Then maybe you'd understand!"

"Understand what? That you regret everything in the past three months? That it was all just a mistake? That you could care less about what happens to me? I already understand, Callie! I understand that you see me as a piece of shit and that you don't need me! You just love Wyatt so much more! I understand a lot more than you think I do!"

"I-I... I'm sorry, Brandon!"

"Well, guess what, I'm not Callie. Since you're getting adopted, why don't you just get your stuff from the apartment after school?"

He spins around on his heel when the bell rings, leaving me to realize what he meant by that. I know what it meant, I just didn't want to believe it. I see Mariana, looking at me with a concerned look on her face, but I ignore her and wipe the tears from my eyes, and walk in the opposite direction away from her and Brandon.

I skip school. It just seemed like the right thing to do. To get away from everybody. To get away from what's confusing me. I walk along the beach, not sure what else to do. Mariana saw the entire thing, and my phone keeps going off. I know it's her, but I don't want to talk to anybody, even her. I sigh, and decide that I should go get my stuff now instead of after school, since Brandon didn't have work on Wednesdays. I make my way to our apartment, leaving the key on the counter for him. I stuff as much clothes as I can into my backpack before I even actually start packing.

I leave the pictures on the walls. A few weeks ago, we decided that the walls were to bare, so we just printed a bunch of them and framed them. I pack even more clothes, not wanting to look at them. They were all when we were happy. I finish packing faster than I thought.

I make my way through the apartment as fast as I can, knowing that Brandon would be on his way home by now, and I didn't plan to run into him. I didn't see him, thankfully, and the moment I open the door, Stef and Lena are already taking my bag from me, not even asking me questions, not wondering why I skipped school, they just tell me to sit down and eat, but I can barely hear them. All I can feel is the hole in my chest, and it seems stupid that I feel a hole is because it's my fault.

They talk to me durning dinner, and I respond, not even making sense of the conversation we are having. I poke at the food on my plate. My throat tightens when I hear his name. We finish dinner, Jude and Jesus clearing the table and doing the dishes, and I follow Mariana back to our room, catching my breath when we pass his room, where I can see the keyboard in the corner. Mariana is quite for the first few minutes while she helps me unpack, shaking her head every time she looks at me, like she's wondering why we'd do something so stupid.

Eventually, she pokes her head out of the room, and closes the door behind her tightly, looking at me. "Okay," She says quietly. "Everybody is asleep."

I just look at her blankly, not sure what to do. Mariana sighs, and pushes me down onto my bed, sitting next to me. "I saw you and Brandon fighting," She tells me, and my throat tightens at his name. "I'm really sorry 'bout that. I know that it's the reason you suddenly want to get adopted. Do you want to talk about it?"

I suddenly realize that I do want to talk about it. It seems like it'll make it go away, the pain I'm already feeling from not being with him. And it hasn't even been a full day. "It's my fault," I choke out, and Mariana just looks at me confused, so I go on, "Jude talked to me about not getting adopted, and I told Brandon what Jude wanted to do. And I said that I regretted kissing him, because that's the reason why Jude doesn't want to get adopted. He got upset and told me that we should take a break."

"That's it?"

I shake my head and take a deep breath to keep myself from crying. "No, I went to Lena and asked her if it was okay that I get adopted. Jude finds out, and he's all happy, and when we go back to class, he got mad at me because I was still giving up something for him, and I told him that I don't need Brandon," I tell her, not able to meet her eyes. "Brandon heard me say that."

That's when I break down, not even bothering to stop the tears coming, and I can feel Mariana wrap an arm around me, trying to comfort me. "Hey, it's gonna be okay, Callie. It's not your fault. It's gonna be okay."

I want to believe her. I want to believe that everything is going to be okay, but it doesn't feel that way, and it is my fault. The thought of Brandon being completely alone makes it even worse.


	18. Chapter 17

"Wake up, Callie." I can barely hear Mariana as she shakes my shoulder. Usually, I was the one who woke up before her, but was always the first one in the shower, that I didn't understand.

"I'm tired," I mumble, pulling the pillow over my head, not wanting to hear anything. "I don't want to wake up for school. I'm super tired."

"I know, Cals," Mariana says, lowering her voice. "You fell asleep crying last night."

"Another reason why to not go to school. Go tell moms I'm sick or something. I am suffering."

"Callie, living with moms, you should know that they wouldn't let you miss school even if you had the flu," She pauses. "Much less from a break up."

"I am suffering, and I'm sorry." I tell her as she pulls the pillow away from me.

"What? For what?"

"For being a jerk," I tell her, thinking about when I ran away. With Wyatt, leaving her here after I basically said I wanted to be her sister, because she is my sister. "For running away."

"Callie, you don't have to be sorry for that, you came back," She tells me, and it only makes me feel worse. Telling me to not feel bad. She was so happy when she saw me at Mike's apartment, only to find out that I chose a boyfriend over a family. "You're my sister."

"I love you." I blurt, before I can stop it. But it's true, she's my sister, and I care about her as much as I do for Jude. It seems ridiculous, but it's true. Mariana is my sister, and now that I think about it, I'd do anything for her.

I can tell I surprised her, because it takes her a few seconds to respond, and she's looking at me strangely, like she thought I would never say it too her. When I first got here, sure. But a lot has changed since then. "I love you too, Callie. But we still have to go to school."

I groan, and get out of my bed. "I know. School sucks, though."

"Tell me about it," Mariana says, going back to her side of the room. "The play just suck these days. Kelsey just makes it even worse with Chase."

"Wait. Thee Kelsey? The one who went to rehab? She's working for the play?"

"Yeah, Thee Kelsey," Mariana says, looking through one of her drawers. "We have to do the costumes, and she doesn't do anything. Just talks about her amazing plan to get her and Chase to date."

"Who's this Chase kid?" I ask, pulling on a clean shirt. "This is the first time I ever heard of him."

"Uh, Chase a senior. And I have a slight crush on him," Mariana informs me. "He's really nice. Nicer than I thought a senior would be."

I shrug, making sure I have my notebooks in my backpack. "Some are okay, I guess."

"Did you get a new shirt?" She asks, pointing to the t-shirt I had just put on. I look down, and realize that I'm wearing his shirt. It smells like his cologne, and I shrug, acting like it's not a big problem, knowing it would be better if say it's mine, but it only opens the hole in my chest even more.

"Yeah."

Breakfast is different too, and it's not only me, because it's easy to notice that every body is thinking the same thing, that the empty spot is meant for him. Lena and Stef watch me carefully, and I start to think that they heard me crying last night. They soon give up, probably since I'm talking to Mariana, but I don't know what we're talking about. i think we were still talking about Chase and the play when Lena tells all of us to get in the car so she can take us to school. We all stop what we're doing and pile into the car quickly, knowing that there's a chance that we're going to be late.

School seems quite, and I walk to class with Mariana. I have three classes with her, and all of them were with him too, so I think it'd be easier with Mariana there. To remind me that I can't be with him anymore if I want to get adopted, because it is what I want. But there's still him. He's already in the classroom when we get there. I feel his stare on me as I sit down next to Mariana, behind him, then I don't have to worry about looking back to find him staring at me, because that'd just make me say sorry about everything and beg him for another chance. But that can't happen, not if I want to get adopted.

The teacher comes in, snapping me out of my thoughts, and points to the words on the board. "You should've read this chapter last night. We are starting the next chapter today as a class. Who wants to come up here first and start reading?" Nobody offers to read, and he looks at us coldly before looking right at me. "Callie Jacob. How 'bout you come up here and read to us?"

Everybody looks at me, and I want to say something like, How about you read. You're the teacher. Not me. But that would only end me a week of detention from him. So I stand up and make my way to the front of the classroom and take the book from his hands. I stare at the page blankly, but the letters jumble up, and I close my eyes and try again. I know how to read. It only makes it worse. I see numbers and letters, and I'm pretty sure there's no numbers in this book.

"Do need help reading?" He asks me, and I hear kids snicker at his question.

I shake my head, trying to clear it. "No, I'm pretty sure I know how to read, sir. But maybe you should read, ya know? Since you are the teacher."

"I want you to read, if you don't mind." He tells me, and I sigh, and look back at the page, and still no luck. I can't make out a single word. Suddenly, it seems harder for me to breath, my breathing getting quicker, and I faintly hear Mariana telling him that she should take me to the office, and him agreeing. "Come on, Callie," She says, and it's easier for me to hear her, and she's pulling me out of the classroom, and I feel like collapsing, and that's what I do. "Come on, just make it to the office, Callie."

"I-I couldn't read," I tell her as she manages to help me up, and my breathing gets even faster if that's possible. "I... I couldn't f-freaking read, Mariana."

"You need to go to the office."

My chest tightens, and I cough, only making it even harder for me to catch my breath. "No office! I- I can't go there!"

Mariana shoves me into a bathroom, and locks the door behind her, while I tumble to the floor. "Breath then, Callie! Focus on your breathing! You're freaking me out. You've barely breathed in the past five minutes!"

The room seems to get hotter, and I can't catch my breath. I haven't had one of theses in a long time, I haven't even recognized it. A panic attack. "I- I... Can't, Mariana! It hurts to breath!"

She's going trough my backpack. "Do you have an inhaler or something? Anything to help it? Come on, you're gonna end up in the hospital!"

"I'm not going to end up in the hospital," I say quickly, trying to remember how I got over one. Happy thoughts, a distraction from my breathing. There's a sharp pain in my chest. "Distract me!" There's a loud knock on the door, demanding for our attention, but Mariana ignores it.

"What am I supposed to do? Happy thoughts? Think of Brandon!" I look at her, that's not helping at all. "Never mind, not that! Family! Jude. Jude! Think about Jude!"

"Jude is safe right?" I ask as there's another sharp pain in my chest, causing me to wince, and Mariana notices.

"Jude is fine! He's getting adopted, he's safe," She tells me, and my eyesight starts to get blurry. "He's happy, Callie!"

I close my eyes and try to picture Jude smiling, and it seems easier to breath. I force myself to get up, and turn on the sink, out of breath. It's over, I can tell how it's easier for me to breath, and how my eyesight isn't blurry anymore. I'm still trying to catch my breath, and I feel Mariana hand on my back.

"We have to tell Stef and Lena," She tells me. "You could've gotten hurt really bad, Callie."

I shake my head. "No, I can't. It was just a panic attack, Mariana. I'm fine."

"It didn't seem like that, Callie. You were freaking out, you weren't breathing. You scared the hell out of me. What if it happens again when you're by yourself?"

"I'll find my anchor. Mariana, please. We are not telling anybody about this right now, okay? When it gets worse we will."

"You almost ended up in the hospital, Callie! We tell them today! Right now!"

I shake my head. "No, Mariana, we aren't, you want to know why? Because I used to get them a lot, and they slowly died down. This is nothing right know, okay?" She nods slowly, and I sigh thankfully. Stef and Lena already have enough things to deal with. Adding a Panic Attack to it would not help the case. There's another knock on the door.

"Callie! Mariana!" Brandon knocks again loudly. "Is Callie okay? Let me in!"

Mariana looks at me, and I sigh, and unlock the door, only to see Brandon with is hand in the air like he is going to knock again. When his eyes land on me, his arm falls to his side limply and he's staring at me, his eyes full of worry. "Are you okay?" He whispers.

"Never been better," I tell him coldly, trying to avoid his eyes. "You know, it is a new trend. To ditch class and talk to my sister in the school bathroom."

Brandon just sighs at my comment and runs his fingers through his hair. "Can I talk to you?"

"I dont know, can you?"

Brandon sighs again. "Can I talk to you? Alone?" He asks, his eyes going to Mariana behind me quickly, then back to me. "There's a thing call privacy."

"I don't think there's really anything for us to talk about," I tell him, pushing past him. "We're on the same page."

He grabs my wrist roughly, and all I can think about is Liam, pain shooting up my arm. "We're not on the same page," He tells me. "I-"

"Let go of me," I tell him, yanking my wrist out of his grip. "You're hurting me!"

Brandon eyes suddenly leave mine, and his head seems to sink as he looks at the floor. "That's what I do, right?" He whispers. "I hurt you, don't I? I haven't realized it at all, though. I just hurt you." He shakes his head as he starts to walk away from me. Again.

"Wait!" I say, not wanting him to leave. I didn't mean it like that, his actions surprised me. "Brandon! I-"

I get cut off by the bell ringing.

It's been a month. 30 days to be exact. 720 hours. It seems ridiculous, but that's the only thing I've done today. Figuring out how long it's been since Brandon and I broke up. The first week was okay. By the second week it was obvious that I cried myself to sleep each night for doing something so stupid, and then having Mariana wake me up because of nightmares that have slowly made their back into my mind. The third week, Mariana told me that maybe it would be better for me to get back together with him, but earlier in the day, I saw him kissing another girl. It really didn't help the matter. They week I told her that he doesn't need me anymore. By the fourth week, Stef and Lena noticed that the only things I seemed to wear were his clothes, they comforted me.

Today. The start of the fifth week. Will Mariana tell Stef and Lena about my nightmares? Would I end up having a panic attack in front of them? I wouldn't know. Mariana hasn't said a word about either of them, and I couldn't be more thankful for that. She had gotten used to the way I'd fall asleep. She'd always say something that made it a little easier, telling me a joke or just keeping me company. I look over at the time, 9:45 pm. I'm tired, and I didn't plan on crying myself to sleep, and Mariana is out at the movie with some of her friends.

I turn off my light, and roll over, pulling Brandon's sweatshirt closer to me. I fall asleep much easier than I expected, but didn't make any of the memories easier to deal with.

* * *

_"You're a pice of shit!" He roars, raising his hand again, causing me to flinch. "You're unthankful for everything we've done for you!" His hand makes contact with my cheek, and it stings. I have learned not to cry. That will only make the problem worse, and they might turn onto Jude. But I can't let them hurt Jude again. "Pick up the glass! I expect you to be ready to leave in an hour! Bill is coming to pick you up!"_

_He storms out of the kitchen, and I bend over quickly to pick up the glass shards from the plate I dropped minutes before. The glass cuts my skin, and blood immediately starts to come. I ignore it, and throw away the glass quickly, running upstairs where Jude is in the corner of my room. He looks up when I open the door. _

_"W-where a-are we going?" He asks as I grab both of our already packed bags. _

_"I don't know, Jude, I don't know. Just away from this horrible place." Jude follows me down stairs, and our foster father starts yelling again. _

_"Get out! Get the hell out of my house!"_

_"I get it! I'm a pice of shit! We're leaving!" _

_Bill doesn't question the red mark on my cheek, or the blood on my hands, just tells us about how nice this house is and that he knows it's safe, they already have a kid._

_Bill dropped us off, rushing off to another case he had. They introduce themselves as the Olmsteads, their son Liam, and his parents tell us to call them Mom and Dad._

_Jude is comfortable right away, with the way they invite him to watch tv with them. Liam stays with me in the kitchen, and tries to take my hands. I jerk them away from him, and he looks hurt. "I'm not going to hurt you," He whispers. "I promise. I just want to help you." I let him clean and bandage my hands. _

_Our relationship only grew, which only caused Jude to trust Liam even more because I trusted Liam. Until that one night. _

_I was quietly doing my homework in the room they gave me when my door flies open, Liam shouting happily. "Guess what! I'm taking a beautiful girl to see a movie tonight."_

_"That's great. When are you going to pick her up?" I asked, not looking up from my book. _

_"God, Cals! I'm talking about taking you to see a movie!" Liam told me happily, jumping on the bed next to me. "How 'bout it?" He asked, looking at me. _

_"No." _

_"Pwlease?"_

_I sighed. "Fine."_

_"Ah-ha! We have a mission, then! Get dressed!" He left quickly, and I got dressed. He happily told his parents that he was taking me to see a movie, and that we'd be home before ten. _

_After the movie when we got home, he came with me to my room. "I want to do it," He told me, locking the door. "Tonight. Now."_

_I shook my head. "No, Liam. I'm not ready."_

_He roughly pulled me towards him, grabbing my wrist tightly._

_"L-Liam. S-top it."_

* * *

"Callie!" Mariana is shaking my shoulders. Again. Brandon's sweatshirt is covered in sweat, and I sit up suddenly, trying to catch my breath. "It's okay! You're okay!"

I can hear Stef and Lena talking, and I know that Mariana couldn't wake me up as fast as she usually does. I look at Mariana, and Jude and Jesus are next to her towering over me.

"Was it Liam?" Jude whispers, and I bury my face in my hands, rubbing my eyes, telling myself to clam down, that it's not time to have another panic attack now. Not at One in the morning. But I can hear him, all of the lies he told me, calling me a trashy foster kid when his parents found out, and my breathing quickens again, and Mariana notices.

"Moms, she's gonna have a panic attack!"

"L-Liam!" I stutter, shaking my head. "He... He was here!"

"Stef, stay with her, everybody get out, give her room! I'm calling the hospital!"

I stumble out of my bed, ignoring everybody staring at me. "No! I-I i'm fine!" A sharp pain in my chest, and my head. "No hospital!"

"Callie, sit down," Stef voice is calm compared to everybody else's. "We're going to call the hospital because they can help us, okay?"

"My mom! T-They didn't help my mom!" The memory of watching doctors work on her flashes into my mind, and it doesn't help.

"Callie, you need to calm down, okay?"

I nod, and try to regain my breathing, but that doesn't work. Nothing is working. "Brandon," I gasp weakly, my heart racing. "Call Brandon. Tell him I need him!"

Lena, the only one in the room with the phone calls him the moment the words come out of my mouth.

I'm not very aware of the next few minutes until I hear his voice. "How is she?" I feel his arms wrap around me, and my breathing slowly starts to go back to normal, and my heart doesn't seem to be racing anymore.

"Brandon. I-" I mutter, my fingers gripping the fabric of his shirt tightly, burying my face in his chest.

"Shh. It's okay," He whispers in my ear, his voice raspy, running his fingers through my hair, his arms wrapping around me tighter. "It's okay. I'm here now. I got you. I'm right here."

Everybody else had left, and I feel him unwrap his arms, and he starts to get up. I grab his arm, not wanting him to leave again. No, I wasn't going to let that happen. "Stay with me. Please." I whisper hopelessly, not sure what else to say.

His green eyes meet mine, and I notice circles under them, and he nods quietly, sitting next to me again, wrapping his arms around me again, pressing his lips to my ear. "I'm sorry."

I'm tired of people telling me that they're sorry. I should be the one telling him sorry, but I can't form words, instead I crash my lips against his with four weeks of longing. My fingers quickly find his hair, not wanting him to pull away. Brandon kisses me back fiercely. Forcefully. Until my lips are going to bruise.

He pulls away, leaving me breathless, and I take in his sent of mints. "What are we gonna do?" He asks, barely brushing his lips against mine. "I just ruined your adoption. Again."

I close my eyes, resting my forehead against his. "We stay together," I whisper. "I don't know what else to do."

His hand runs down my arm until his hand meets mine, and he intertwines our fingers together, his hand warm against my cold skin. "I love you," He mumbles. "I never stopped."

"I love you too." I tell him as he squeezes my hand, knowing that I was never going to tell him otherwise. I could never tell him that I didn't, and I finally understand what's so different about him. No matter what he'd done, I've still wanted him, and even after I left him, he came after me. My mothers words echo in my ears. _Love_ _is_ _when two imperfect people never give up on each other. _My skin feels like it's on fire when his comes in concat with mine, and I pull him closer.


End file.
